Project Management in Construction, Sixth Edition

Anthony Walker

Preference :

As the sixth edition of this book makes its appearance, the challenge of managing construction projects to successful outcomes continues unabated throughout the world. Prestigious projects make the headlines: both those successful and those less so. The public’s imagination is captured by, for instance, constructions to accommodate great sporting events such as the Olympics and spectacular buildings such as Burj Khalifa and Shanghai Tower. But such projects overshadow the enormous amount of construction which contributes hugely to people’s well-being. The importance of developing all projects effectively, both public and private, is central to economy in using the world’s resources. Many factors impinge on success in this arena: development and utilization of materials and new machines, training and education of a skilled workforce, political will and understanding of people’s needs, to name but a few.

A major need, central to effectively producing projects whatever their scale, is the organization and management of people skilled in designing and building them. As with all previous editions of this book, this edition focuses further on proposing and using systems theory as the organizational approach suitable for this task and addresses the increasing complexity of the environments within which construction projects find themselves placed. In doing so, this edition has sought to explain how diverse approaches to organization underpin systems theory and its relevance to construction project management as well as recognizing the many competing paradigms and alternative perspectives available, for example in relation to differentiation and integration. Recognition has also been afforded to recent emergence of the study of temporary organisations arising in mainstream management and its relevance to construction project management.