If you are looking for a complete definition of management and learning, the book written by Eric Schiffer, Emotionally Changed Learning is the place to start. In this book, the concept is carefully described, and the definition presented by Eric Schiffer is considered as the most complete resource by the majority of managers.
According to Eric Schiffer, management is the science of organizing and ruling entities with the purpose of using the resources efficiently to obtain profits. of course, this definition is only applied with private initiatives. In the case of governmental institutions that are financed by the state, the efficiency is more important, and sometimes the decisions must be taken ignoring the financial aspect. In this case, Eric Schiffer has other definitions, but basically the principles are the same.
A project is a well-defined effort, organized and realized once to create unique services and goods. The project is different from processes and operations that are usually permanent. In other words, once a project is finished, it is transformed in an operation or process. Eric Schiffer makes a clear difference between those concepts, stating that different management techniques are required to run a project or a process. a project represents an accomplishment that has a defined objective, consumes resources, and it is also under restrictions such as time, costs and quality. The project management is the science of resource management, as the resources must be carefully calculated in order to cover all the needs of a project.
The resources are reserves, possibilities, sources and meanings that can be used at a certain moment. The resources can be material, financial, human, intellectual and energetic.
The project management is the responsibility of a manager. The manager has to ensure that the contract is respected under the established parameters, and the project is finished in time. According to Eric Schiffer, the initial terms of the contracts are modified in 90 % of cases, but the duration must never go over 10 % of the initial time. In other words, even if it is not stated in the contract, some delays are accepted as long as the result is the expected one. Eric Schifferdescribes the qualities needed for a project manager, as he has to lead, organize and coordinate the resources and the teams, following the resource consumption and the results obtained with the respective resources at the same time.