Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / AASLH
Pages: 220
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-4422-7365-8 • Hardback • July 2017 • $92.00 • (£71.00)
978-1-4422-7366-5 • Paperback • July 2017 • $41.00 • (£32.00)
978-1-4422-7367-2 • eBook • July 2017 • $39.00 • (£30.00)
Martha Morris is associate professor of museum studies at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She has over 45 years of experience in the museum field as a manager and leader. She served as deputy director of the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History where she oversaw project management programs for key activities of the museum. As a member of the board of the Midatlantic Association of Museums she served as founding program chair of the Building Museums symposium. She has designed workshops, lectured and written on a number of topics including collections planning and management, strategic planning, exhibition development, staffing, museum facilities programs, museum mergers, and 21st century leadership skills.
1 Introduction
2 The Big Picture: Strategic Planning and Organizational Development
3 Managing People in Museums
4 Leadership in Museums
5 Project Management in Museums
6 Creating the Project Plan
7 Creating the Project Team
8 Successful Team Dynamics
9 Evaluating the Project
10 Project Teams in Action: Case Studies
Appendix A Exhibit Plan Template
Appendix B Exhibit Postmortem Results
Appendix C Committee Charter Template
Appendix D Accountability Chart
Appendix E Exhibit Project Charter
Appendix F Project Proposal Form
Appendix G Hypothetical Project Planning Exercise
Appendix H Hypothetical Team Planning Exercise
Managing People and Managing Projects in Museums: Strategies that Work is a book that every passionate museum professional should have in their personal library. Morris provides readers with the tools necessary to achieve optimal excellence, structure, and professionalism while ensuring the work measures up to the mission, vision and values of the museum.
— Kimberly E. Springle, Executive Director of Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives
As someone who both provides training for museum professionals in the field and teaches museum studies at the university level, I can highly recommend this book because it covers so much of importance to the study of museum leadership and project management. It is easy-to-read, includes templates and charts to help solidify the learning process, and I love the discussion questions at the end of each chapter. This great resource should be in the library of anyone interested in museum studies or project management.
— Jennifer Thomas, Executive Director, Virginia Association of Museums and Director, FRAME North America
Martha Morris has researched and amassed a thorough, engaging and informative discussion on the importance of project management in this remarkable publication. By centering her discussion amidst the best thinking about leadership and management, the current challenges facing museums, and the importance of strategic planning, she deftly reveals wisdom about project management coupled with practical advice and many useful examples. Her writing is clear, crisp and accessible to those new to the topic and insightful to those familiar. Because the content, charts, and examples are so pertinent, this volume will become a go to reference to all museums professionals from large-to-small museums. This is a welcome new addition to museum literature.
— Gail Anderson, president, Gail Anderson & Associates and author, Reinventing the Museum: The Evolving Conversation on the Paradigm Shift