Project Managers: The Concept in Perspective

摘要

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and evaluate the project management technique of management as practiced today by the U. S. Army Material Command. This technique of management is receiving increasing attention from managers both in civilian industry and in the Department of Defense as a possible solution to the management problems inherent in the development of complex weapons systems and equipment. Project management is a result of the search by managers in industry and the government for a new organizational concept to cope with the development of sophisticated weapons systems required by the military services in the nuclear age. Thus, it is possible to trace the origins of project management back nearly twenty years. However, it was only three years ago (in 1962) that project management was established in AMC as the management pattern for that organization. Project management provides a single central point for decision making and for obtaining and providing information concerning the status of the item being project managed. This system attempts to combine the advantages of the clear cut lines of responsibility and authority inherent in the vertical or line organization with the benefits of maximum utilization of scarce skills and talents afforded by the horizontal or functional organization.