Mastering the Leadership Role in Project

In this book, project management expert Dr. Alexander Laufer leads an all-star team of practitioners and thought leaders in presenting a powerful project leadership framework. Laufer's framework addresses the toughest challenges of new product development: large, complex projects composed of many diverse, geographically distributed, and highly interdependent components; organizational change; and repeated and risky tasks. Laufer reveals core leadership principles that are crucial to successful project leadership in dynamic and complex environments, regardless of industry, project goals, or stakeholders. Then, together with his contributors, he presents eight chapter-length case studies covering exceptionally challenging projects in a wide spectrum of industries and products from developing missiles to reorganizing companies, building spacecraft and dairy plants to flying solar-powered airplanes. Readers will discover new ways to unleash the power of autonomy and learning; adapt to change on a timely basis; "give up" control without "losing" control; use face-to-face interaction to maximize alignment; manage "no fun" missions in hostile environments; deliver on bold ideas through sheer preparation; learn from practice and unlearn lessons that need to be unlearned. Mastering the Leadership Role in Project Managementwill be invaluable to executives, project leaders, and aspiring project leaders in all organizations regardless of their project goals, backgrounds, or experience.

Dr. Alexander Laufer is a chaired professor of civil engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, where he also served as the dean of the faculty. Currently he is also a visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has served as the editor-in-chief of the NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership Magazine, Academy Sharing Knowledge, and as a member of the advisory board of the NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership. He has also served as the director of the Center for Project Leadership at Columbia University. He is a member of the editorial review board of the Project Management Journal. Dr. Laufer is the author or coauthor of five books; the two most recent ones are Breaking the Code of Project Management (Macmillan, 2009) and Shared Voyage: Learning and Unlearning from Remarkable Projects (NASA History Office, 2005).

Foreword: Larry Prusak	p. xi
About the Author	p. xiv
About the Contributors	p. xv
Introduction: Learning from the Best Practitioners	p. 1
Learning from Stories	p. 1
Stuck in the '60s	p. 4
Learning from the Best	p. 7
On Leadership, Management, and the Specific Context	p. 8
Description of the Cases	p. 10
Endnotes	p. 14
Developing a Missile: The Power of Autonomy and Learning	p. 19
Doing Business More Like Business	p. 19
Six Is Not Seven	p. 22
We Would Shoot Granny for a Dollar	p. 38
We're Married Now	p. 47
Building of Memory: Managing Creativity Through Action	p. 51
Initial Stages: Making Progress by Splitting	p. 51
Middle Stages: Making Progress by Uniting	p. 55
Final Stages: Making Progress Through Versatility	p. 65
Flying Solar-Powered Airplanes: Soaring High on Spirit and Systems	p. 71
I Was the Enemy	p. 71
Systems Are Our Best Friends	p. 76
Change of Venue	p. 87
People Matter die Most	p. 94
Flight Party	p. 100
Transferring Harbor Cranes: Delivering a Bold Idea Through Meticulous Preparations and Quick Responsiveness	p. 103
The Entrepreneurial Phase	p. 103
The Bisk Reduction Phase	p. 114
The Constant Vigilance Phase	p. 118
A Successful Downsizing: Developing a Culture of Trust and Responsibility	p. 125
My Engineering Staff Shrunk from 80 to 12	p. 125
Partnership	p. 130
Constancy of Purpose	p. 141
A Peaceful Evacuation: Building a Multi-Project Battalion by Leading Upward	p. 149
The Turbulent Birth of the Unilateral Disengagement	p. 149
The Systematic Preparations of the Israeli Defense Forces	p. 151
The Fight for the Makeup of the Battalion	p. 156
The Speedy Implementation of the Evacuation	p. 164
Exploring Space: Shaping Culture by Exploiting Location	p. 171
"Good Enough" Is Good Enough	p. 171
Nurturing the Culture of Location	p. 175
A Gentle Touch	p. 183
"Good Enough" Is Not Good Enough	p. 189
Building a Dairy Plant: Accelerating Speed Through Splitting and Harmonizing	p. 193
Shifting from Park to Drive	p. 193
Gaining Independence	p. 198
Splitting and Harmonizing	p. 203
Epilogue Practices for Project Leadership	p. 213
Embrace the "living Order" Concept	p. 214
Adjust Project Practices to the Specific Context	p. 216
Challenge the Status Quo	p. 218
Do Your Utmost to Recruit the Right People	p. 222
Shape the Right Culture	p. 224
Plan, Monitor, and Anticipate	p. 227
Use Face-to-Face Communication as the Primary Communication Mode	p. 230
Be Action-Oriented and Focus on Results	p. 232
Practice 9	p. 236
Index	p. 239
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

FREE SHIPPING

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

Mastering the Leadership Role in Project Management Practices that Deliver Remarkable Results

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials