ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the commonest type of resources, people. As long ago as 1993, the University of Southern California analyzed 165 teams in a number of successful organizations to assess the effectiveness of teamwork. Commitment to projects is often on the basis of good intention, rather than good information. Many of the problems faced by organizations in trying to allocate their resources efficiently arise as a result of some misconceptions regarding projects and resources. These misconceptions are: people work only on projects and do nothing else; resources are allocated to projects; and project managers can choose whoever they want to work for them. Manpower forecasting is a natural follow-on from time recording. The objective of resource management is to give sufficient visibility of the use and availability of resources to enable new projects and activities to be started without compromising the completion of committed work.
