Mindful project management : resilient performance beyond the risk horizon / Elmar Kutsch and Mark Hall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kutsch, Elmar, author.

Hall, Mark, author.

Standardized Title:

Project resilience

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Project management.

Risk management.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (263 pages)

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York, New York : Routledge, [2020]

Summary:

"Central to the issue of improving project performance is the application of deterministic, probabilistic processes and techniques to reduce human error. To that end, we as project managers often endeavour to implement and follow a project management methodology in the belief that we can reduce the scope for emerging ambiguous requirements, ill-matched resource needs and availability, contractual and funding constraints and other unwanted uncertainties. However such 'self-evidently correct' processes are not without their limitations. The management of uncertainty needs to be viewed not from a procedural, 'stand-alone' perspective but from a behavioural, people-driven perspective, that is, Mindfulness. Mindfulness is a project-wide human capability to anticipate key events from emerging trends, constantly adapt to change, and rapidly bounce back from adversity. Resilient project managers are forward-thinking and able to foresee relevant scenarios that are likely to occur and which may have damaging effects on performance. We strive to be prepared for the best but also for the worst, and learning is nurtured and encouraged. We believe that with purpose, whatever uncertainty hits us, and regardless of the damage caused, we can prevent a crisis from happening in the first place. When a crisis occurs, we can recover and bounce back from shocks, quickly restoring 'normal' management. This book goes beyond commonly accepted standards in project management and looks beyond mere compliance to determinism and probabilistic approaches to managing uncertainty. Relying on the power of mindful thinking, it identifies an art to manage uncertainty"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Foreword

CHAPTER 1. THE CHALLENGE

A litany of project failure

The emergence of project management

The challenge of uncertainty and complexity

What this book is about

Mindful practices: our case companies

References

CHAPTER 2. ARCHETYPES OF PROJECT RESILIENCE

A 'project' without parallels

Two principal modes of project management revisited

Mindfulness and project management

CHAPTER 3. THE ART OF NOTICING

The lure of normality

Normalcy bias

Hindsight bias

Observational selection bias

Temporal discounting

Key enablers to the art of noticing

Leading the art of noticing

The illusion of asymmetric insight

Shared information bias

The impact of noticing on relationships

Mindful practices

Kodak - a failure of noticing

Towards an art of noticing

CHAPTER 4. THE ART OF INTERPRETING

The lure of simplicity

Optimism bias

Anchoring

Loss aversion

Key enablers to the art of interpreting

Mindful practices: risk interdependencies

Mindful practices: maintaining and retaining knowledge

Leading the art of interpreting

Overconfidence effect

Mindful practices: project management software

False consensus effect

The impact of interpreting on relationships

Deepwater horizon - a failure of interpreting

Towards an art of interpreting

CHAPTER 5. THE ART OF PREPARING

The lure of the fail-safe

Planning fallacy

Bandwagon effect

Automation bias

Key enablers to the art of preparing

Mindful practices: the power of empowerment

Leading the art of preparing

Mindful practices: training

Reactance

Self-serving bias

The impact of preparing on relationships

Mindful practices: establishing long-term commitment.

Mindful practices: winning hearts and minds

Space Shuttle Columbia - a failure of preparing

Towards an art of preparing

CHAPTER 6. THE ART OF CONTAINING

The lure of control

Illusion of control

Status quo bias

Sunk-cost fallacy

Key enablers to the art of containing

Mindful practices: spontaneity through improvisation

Leading the art of containing

Authority bias

Mindful practices: a 'just' culture

The impact of containing on relationships

Mindful practices: organisational identification and belonging

Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey - a success of containing?

Towards an art of containing

CHAPTER 7. THE ART OF RECOVERING

The lure of a 'great escape'

Ostrich effect

Key enablers to recovering

Mindful practices: Tiger Teams

Leading the art of recovering

Just-world hypothesis

Restraint bias

Law of triviality

Mindful practices: challenging ways of working

The impact of recovering on relationships

Hyperbolic discounting

Negativity bias

Apple - a success of recovering

Towards an art of recovering

CHAPTER 8. ROADS TO RESILIENCE

A road map

Balancing rule-based and Mindfulness-based project resilience

Rocks on the road to resilience

Toolkit: scenario planning and premortem

Outlook

Index.

Notes:

Earlier edition published as: Project resilience : the art of noticing, interpreting, preparing, containing and recovering.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780429521751

0429521758

9780429535222

0429535228

9780429259579

0429259573

OCLC:

1138996032