Key Project Management Based on Effective Project Thinking

?This book provides an effective overall approach and concrete action strategies to help readers quickly grasp key aspects of project management and reduce the pressure during the learning process, so that they can soon start enjoying the fruits of successful project management. The problems discussed in this book have been drawn both from several years of theoretical research on the part of the author, and from communications between the author and hundreds of business executives and project managers from many domestic and international EMBA and CEO classes. The book’s unique content is written in an easy-to-follow tone, intended to help readers find the appropriate way to solve problems as they encounter them. It is divided into four main parts: The first part, after analyzing the characteristics of changes in business environment, discusses the real connotation of management and its relationship with enterprise development, then demonstrates the value of projects and project management for companies’ survival and development. The second part examines the basic preparation needed for successful project management, including how to use uniform project management principles to deal with projects with different characteristics, how to create a company-wide project management infrastructure in order to avoid project managers failing to take responsibility, and how to establish fruitful project relationships with partners so as to improve coordination, etc. In the third part, the main management work involved in the project management life cycle is described, including decision-making, initiation, defining the scope, organizing resources, risk management, scheduling, communication management, conflict management, team building, performance management, closeout, etc. Lastly, the book’s fourth part addresses many of the challenges enterprises and project managers face, and provides essential strategies and methods for overcoming them.

Prof. Ronggui Ding is the director of Project Management Institute in Shandong University, China. He received his PhD degree on Systems Engineering in Okayama University (Japan) and Tianjin University (China) in 1997, and got IPMA C-level certificate in 2001. He is now the vice president of Beijing Project Management Association and a well-known professor of Shandong University. He has been teaching project management, especially project governance and project human resource management for EMBA (Executive Master of Business Administration) and EDP (Executive Developing Program) and MPM (Master of Project Management) students in more than 10 universities in China, UK, South Africa and Italy for more than 10 years. He has trained more than 10 thousand senior managers in different countries, industries and government sectors. His books on project management are also well accepted by project managers and corporate managers. Because of his outstanding research outputs, he was honoured as an excellent talent by China Ministry of Education in 2007. Since 2006, he has been an IPMA (International Project Management Association) Award Assessor/Team Lead Assessor/Assessor Trainer and assessed projects in Germany, Russia, Italy, Iran, etc. He was a member of the IPMA Award Management Board from 2007 to 2012, and a member of PMI (Project Management Institute, USA) Global Accreditation Committee for Project Management Education Programs (GAC) in China, and a visiting professor for MSPME (Master in Strategic Project Management European) students in Italy and UK.