Project Management: A Managerial Approach [Hardcover]

Jack R. Meredith (Author), Samuel J. Mantel Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1994 | ISBN-10: 0471016268 | ISBN-13: 978-0471016267 | Edition: 3

Today's organizations are moving toward the use of teams and groups to accomplish specific tasks more rapidly and at less cost. For the past 10 years this book has set the standard for establishing project management principles. This edition provides guidelines and tools to help managers of projects succeed. Emphasis is placed on project/team management techniques, rather than general management techniques. Critical aspects of project management are covered in detail, including available software packages, negotiation, project manager selection and project auditing and terminating.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Meredith & Mantel/Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 7^th Edition

Project management can seem like an impossible task—things rarely go as planned. To manage a project, you need insight into human behavior, knowledge of organizational issues, and skill with quantitative methods. Project Management: A Managerial Approach, Seventh Edition helps you not only acquire these basic skills but prepares you to deal with the unexpected—which, as every good project manager knows, is always to be expected.

In this Seventh Edition of a must-read text, authors Jack Meredith and Samuel J. Mantel, Jr., draw from their own extensive experience in operations management to show you how to select, initiate, operate, and control all types of projects. They familiarize you with:

Project Initiation, including strategic management, negotiation, and conflict management
Project Planning, from budgeting and cost estimating to scheduling and resource allocation
Project Execution, as you monitor and control your project, conduct audits, and understand how to terminate the project properly

Most of all, they prepare you for dealing with the numerous organizational, interpersonal, economic, and technical glitches that can create crises in the life cycle of every project. 

With references to the major areas of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) as defined by the PMI, this new edition keeps you current on such topics as Six-Sigma, ethics, charting and partnering, the role of the project management office, SAP, and Stage Gates. A free trial edition of Crystal Ball gives you hands-on experience with a key project management tool and the companion site (www.wiley.com/college/meredith) offers powerful resources for instructors and students. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Jack Meredith is currently Professor of Management & Broyhill Distinguished Scholar & Chair in Operations at the Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University.  Dr. Meredith's research has focused on the strategic and operational problems that managers face, particularly those concerning the management of advanced technology.  He received his BS and BSME at Oregon State University and his MBA and PhD at the University of California at Berkeley.  Dr. Meredith has written eight books on operations management, project management and management science, including "Project Management" and "Operations Management for MBAs." He serves as outgoing editor in chief of the Journal of Operations Management. He received the school's inaugural Cowan Research Prize in 2002, the Academy of Management's 2003 Distinguished OM Scholar Award, and was inducted into the Oregon State University Engineering Hall of Fame in 2004. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 784 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 3 edition (December 30, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471016268
• ISBN-13: 978-0471016267
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,393,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars SAVE YOUR MONEY - DO NOT BUY!, September 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Project Management: A Managerial Approach (Hardcover)

This book makes learning Project management difficult. It does not clearly define anything. It is full of endless (and senseless) babble and author's "opinions" very few facts. I fully believe this is a required text because of the website Wiley created and the "bonus" cd of Project 2002. The website makes teaching the class a breeze, it gives the teacher quizzes and tests, therefore, the teacher doesn't have to muddle through the maze of crap to find out information. The quizzes are not general but tipically, "what message did the author's try to convey on page such and such".

This book is not worth it!

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the previous Editions, October 13, 2003

By 

Arthur Gousby, III (AZ, CA, FL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Project Management: A Managerial Approach (Hardcover)

I bought this book because it was required for a class I am taking. I had the 3rd Edition already and wasn't too impressed. But this 5th Edition is much more appealing. I just became PMP certified and reviewing this book before taking the exam was a great primer to get my head out of pure PMBOK and into real world Project Management. The case studies and Directed Readings are great for seeing real world PM activities. I would suggest the book for guidance and classroom type learning. If you're an experienced PM then this book is too academic and won't feed your intellect. Buy something else.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Primer and VERY Boring, January 15, 2009

By 

R - See all my reviews

This review is from: Project Management: A Managerial Approach (Hardcover)

Okay so we all know that PM books can be pretty dry and boring, but wow is this text a snoozer. The case studies are excellent, but general concepts are muddled between the author's opinions, babble, and history lessons.

If you are looking for concepts, facts, examples, and down to earth solutions to common problems, then look elsewhere. Wayyyyy too much babble. I wouldn't use this text for the PMP exam. If youre a "get to the point" kinda guy...this text will continually annoy you.

For the academic classroom its okay only, but get ready to explain concepts and shorten the history lesson. Nice Dilbert inserts, MS Project explainations, and earned value analysis though. :)