The Rise of the Project Workforce: Managing People and Projects in a Flat World

Melik's book pick's up with practical advice for managers where books like Friedman's The World is Flat leaves off. Popular books about global trends have left managers with little practical advice and Rudolf Melik wrote The Rise of The Project Workforce to fill this gap. The author identifies four important dynamics that have contributed to fundamental changes and challenges for management: globalization, increased regulation, a flattened hierarchy (fewer levels of management with empowered workers) and a fragmented enterprise. Perhaps this last item is the most important theme in the book. The "fragmented enterprise" refers to the outsourcing or in-sourcing of highly specialized work based on a case-by-case consideration of costs and capabilities. These create temporary, on-demand relationships critical to the business operating in this kind of environment. But Melik goes on to argue that traditional systems stunt company growth in this environment and shows us how to address this. His book is logically organized into three parts. The first part describes the "flatness" of world and, in many ways, it does this in a manner that is more detailed and focused on the manager's areas of concern than Friedman's book. Then specific tools, such as software and best practices, are described that will help the manager navigate this environment and flourish in it. Finally, the book get's into specific implementation details for managers that want to use these tools. The last section of this book may be the highest payoff for the manager. It is full of detailed workflows, examples, and supporting data. Melik organizes his thoughts with charts and graphs for the visually-oriented thinker and it is easy to find specific topics quickly. If your organization uses project teams, a geographically dispersed workforce, or just wants to improve traditional management processes, then this should be the book for you.

Rudolf does a great job of de-mystifying a complex subject - how to face the very real challenge of managing a workforce that crosses countries, time zones and cultures in today's fast moving business environment - the flat world - while delivering high quality projects on time and on budget. This book is a resource that needs to be on a project manager's reading list.