Process Management: Why Project Management Fails

More and more decisions have to be made in networks. Networks have no hierarchy, which precludes simple command and control-type decision making. In addition, project-based techniques are unlikely to succeed in networks, since project management presupposes that one actor, the project manager, is at the top of a hierarchy. How to make decisions, when both command and control and project management are ineffective? This text offers decision-makers operating in networks an alternative perspective. If neither command and control nor project management are effective, process management offers a solution: to reach decisions, invest in a structured interaction process. This book provides an in-depth analysis of process management: how to design and manage a process and why, what risks does it pose and how can we address them?

Table of Contents:
1. Prologue. 1.1. Introduction. 1.2. The process approach to change: a tentative description. 1.3. Stucture of the book. Notes. Part I: Introduction to Process Design and Process Management. 2. Positioning the process approach. 2.1. Introduction. 2.2. Process management versus substance. 2.3. Process management versus command and control. 2.4. Process management versus project management. 2.5. Process management versus single-value decision making. 2.6. The main arguments for process management. 2.7. The results of a process: consensus, commitment or tolerance. 2.8. The risks of process thinking. Part III: Process Architecture. 3.Designing a process. 3.1. Introduction. 3.2. The four core elements of a process design. 3.3. Design principles leading to open decision making. 3.4. Design principles protecting parties' core values. 3.5. Design principles guaranteeing the speed of the process. 3.6. Design principles guaranteeing the substance of the notes. Notes. 4: The Process Architect in Action: Making a Process Design. 4.1. Introduction. 4.2. The process design as a result of negotiation. 4.3. The need for a sense of urgency. 4.4. The process architect in action: designing a process. 4.5. Process management and related approaches. Notes. Part III: Managing the Process. 5.1. Introduction. 5.2. Involving parties in the decision making. 5.3. The transformation from substance to process. 5.4. Process and process management are marked by transparency and openness. Notes. 6. Process management and the protection of the parties'core values. 6.1. Introduction. 6.2. Protecting core values. 6.3. Commitment to the process and the result. 6.4. Postponing commitments during the process. 6.5. The exit rules of the process. Notes. 7. The process manager and the speed of decision making. 7.1. Introduction. 7.2. Incentives for cooperative behaviour. 7.3. The process has participants with commitment power. 7.4. Management of the environment. 7.5. Conflicts are transferred to the periphery of the process. 7.6. Command and control in a process: as a driver and as a result of the process. Notes. 8. The process manager and the substance of decision making. 8.1. Introduction. 8.2. Unbundling and bundling experts and stakeholders. 8.3. Intermezzo: strategic behaviour or sound and substantive behaviour? 8.4. The process from substantive variety to selection. Epilogue. References. Index. About the Authors.

About the Author :
Hans de Bruijn is professor of Organisation and Management at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology. Ernst ten Heuvelhof is professor of Policy Science at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology and at the Department of Public Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Roel in 't Veld is dean of the Netherlands School of Public Administration, professor of Organisation Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, professor of Management of Public Organisations at the Utrecht School of Governance and professor of Hybrid Organisations at the Open University of the Netherlands.