Every company has
projects that have to be completed. Each manager is charged with making his or
her department grow and thrive. But what is a project? According to Harold Kerzner, a project is
“considered to be any series of activities and tasks that: Have a
specific objective to be completed within certain specifications; Have defined
start and end dates; Have funding limits (if applicable); Consume human and
nonhuman resources (i.e., money, people, equipment); Are multifunctional (i.e.,
cut across several functional lines),” (Kerzner, 2006).
This means that any work that a company does that
has a specific time frame, funding limits, uses time, money, and or labor
resources, and requires many functions to complete is a project for the
purposes of this course. Project management is therefore, a system to ensure that the
results of the project are the best possible, and a successful project will
stay within the limits for time, cost, and function.
