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MANAGING PROJECTS

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Projects represent nonroutine business activities that often have long-term strategic ramifications for a firm. In this chapter, we examined how projects differ from routine business activities and discussed the major phases of projects. We noted how environmental changes have resulted in increased attention being paid to projects and project management over the past decade. In the second half of the chapter, we introduced some basic tools that businesses can use when planning for and controlling projects. Both Gantt charts and network diagrams give managers a visual picture of how a project is going. Network diagrams have the added advantage of showing the precedence between activities, as well as the critical path(s). We wrapped up the chapter by showing how these concepts are embedded in inexpensive yet powerful software packages such as Microsoft Project. If you want to learn more about project management, we encourage you to take a look at the Web site for the Proj...
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Learning about Organizational Behavior

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Leadership is the process of developing ideas and a vision, living by values that support those ideas and that vision, influencing others to embrace them in their own behaviors, and making hard decisions about human and other resources. Leadership includes the seven foundation competencies developed throughout this book and more. In contrast, management focuses on looking inward, improving the present, tight controls, directing, coordinating, efficiency, and the like. Both leaders and managers must accept three key functions to be effective: authority, responsibility, and accountability.
Organizational behavior involves the dynamic interplay among employees, leaders, teams, and the organization itself. We introduced seven competencies in this chapter and suggested the dynamic interplay among these competencies.
The ethics competency includes the knowledge, skills, and abilities to incorporate values and principles that distinguish right from wrong when making decisions and choosing behaviors. Managers and employees often experience ethical dilemmas—situations in which a decision must be made that involves multiple values.
The self competency includes the knowledge, skills, and abilities to assess a person’s own strengths and weaknesses; set and pursue professional and personal goals; balance work and personal life; and engage in new learning—including new or modified skills, behaviors, and attitudes. This competency is especially inherent to the individual. Mastering it requires a lifelong process of learning and career management.
The diversity competency includes the knowledge, skills, and abilities to value unique individual and group characteristics, embrace such characteristics as sources of organizational strength, and appreciate the uniqueness of each individual and group. These characteristics can act as potential sources of organizational strength. The core components of this competency are related to a framework of six primary categories of diversity: age, race, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities and qualities, and sexual orientation. These types of diversity are important because they often reflect differences in perspectives, lifestyles, attitudes, values, and behaviors. How leaders and employees embrace and respond to diversity influences an organization’s effectiveness.
The across cultures competency includes the knowledge, skills, and abilities to recognize and embrace similarities and differences among nations and cultures and then approach key organizational and strategic issues with an open and curious mind. Individuals’ and groups’ perceptions, communication, decisions, and behaviors are influenced by their culture. Too often, one’s culture may influence the development of sweeping negative stereotypes about those from other cultures.
The communication competency includes the knowledge, skills, and abilities to transmit, receive, and understand data, information, thoughts, and emotions—nonverbal, verbal, written, listening, electronic, and the like—for accurately transferring and exchanging information and emotions. Core components of this competency are describing, active listening, questioning, nonverbal communication, empathizing, verbal communication, and written communication. This competency is like the body’s circulatory system, nourishing and carrying information to other competencies to enhance individual, team, and organizational effectiveness.
The teams competency includes the knowledge, skills, and abilities to develop, support, and lead teams to achieve organizational goals. Recognition of the potential for individual and team differences is stressed.
The change competency includes the knowledge, skills, and abilities to recognize and implement needed adaptations or entirely new transformations. New technologies are one of the primary sources of change, which creates a state of blur. The Internet is a primary enabler of increasing organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

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