Considers the many demands facing managers in modern organizations, particularly following the effects of downsizing and flattened organizational structures. Managers have to be concerned with, variously, product and/or service quality, financial planning and accountability, organizational...

Organisations use project management to bring key people together to achieve specific goals. Yet many struggle to achieve this effectively because the culture does not support the disciplines involved. Offers some insights into the strategy used to deliver a new steps and gates product...

Describes a process of management learning and development involving over 100 senior public sector managers in the States of Guernsey and covering a period of six years. Details the programme’s content and action learning approach which had much in common with many other management development...

In November 1998, Softlab, a BMW Group company and leading European software provider and systems integrator, appointed project management specialists, the newly launched Professional Development Team (PDT), to assess project managers throughout the company, both individually and as teams. A...

More and more companies are employing senior interim Managers to handle short‐term assignments. The people who handle these fixed‐term contracts are senior, highly experienced managers, who have reached a point in their career where they feel confident to handle almost any challenge. The...

This article demonstrates how project managers can achieve greater success if trained in people skills. Project management is an important skill for businesses to have – particularly companies whose business rests on delivering projects. Often project managers are trained in the technical...

Matrix structures are increasingly used in organisations as they become more complex and as the pace of change increases. They are similar to project management arrangements, although matrix structures may be a permanent feature. Matrix structures, like project management, involve the creation...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need for organizations to synchronize the development of the complete project management system. Design/methodology/approach – The paper concentrates on the three key areas of development for the project management system, “what we...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of implementation thoroughness on the achievement of expected results from people development initiatives and to provide a framework of consideration to improve levels of success Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on...

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the challenge of learning and reinvention from the twin perspectives of academia and the earthy pragmatism of popular culture. It provides a set of lessons to assist organisations to learn and, more importantly, unlearn, so that they can stay ahead....