A view from the top [project management]

Projects in the context of this paper are those new developments within the petrochemical contracting industry funded by the oil majors such as BP and Mobil and the chemical companies e.g. Union Carbide. Examples would be offshore oil and gas production platforms, onshore polyethylene plants and oil refinery expansions. The size and scope of a project will vary enormously together with the degree of responsibility and independence that the project manager may have. The four objectives of this paper are to: provide an insight into the nature of a project within this field; identify some of the attributes of project management that are different from corporate management; to demonstrate the importance of variety and flexibility in project managers as a whole; but most of all to show how project management is the management of change, where the one clear objective is always to finish the job, make one (and everyone else) redundant, and then move on to pastures new