China's Large-scale Synthetic Ammonia Project Management Model Is A Comparative Study

The Theory of Modern Management roughly experienced three stages before it came into being. The first stage is the conventional management theory, which was formed from the end of 19th century to the beginning of 20th century. The second stage is the management theory based on Behavioral Science and Organization formed from the beginning of 20th century to the Second World War. The third stage is the Theory of Modern Management which was developed after World War II. The Theory of Modern Management started from 1940s'of 20th century. The typical cases are the Manhattan Project for atom bomb research by US army and Apollo Project in 1960s'. By means of network planning techniques, these projects costing 30 billion US dollars, involving 20,000 enterprises, 400,000 people and 7 million components were successfully performed. Till 1980s', Project Management had been still limited in few sectors such as architecture, national defense and space flight. In history there are many successful project management cases both in China and other countries. For example, the Great Wall in China, the Pyramid in Egypt and aqueduct in ancient Rome. Project management performance can be traced back to some key infrastructure construction in ancient time, such as the Pyramid, canal and bridges in Egypt as well as ancient churches, roads and castles in Europe.For a long period of time in China, conventional project management has been performed in most cases by setting up a temporary department (such as Construction Office) by the owner to make uniform coordination and management on project engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning. This way of management functions well when owners are rather experienced in project management or the projects are simple and small. In recent years, the economy in China is developing rapidly, there are more large-scaled energy, traffic and chemical projects and the project quality standard and modernization level are higher. Consequently the project management and organization is required to be more professional and experienced. The importance of project management in improving project quality, schedule and investment benefit is becoming more and more distinct day after day. The conventional management mode is hardly adapted to modern management requirements due to its disadvantages such as low professional level, no way to gain experiences and use experience for reference. Relevant policies, regulations and systems need to be set up and perfected by the State. Quality of project management personnel and management inventory should be improved to be in line with the international practice.In globalized market change, project management will play a key role. As the socialism market economic system in China is being perfected, capital construction market is being standardized and China has become a member of WTO, the competition in the world will become sharper. Project management of real meaning is urgently needed in China. In which direction should project management in China be developed? What measures shall we take to face the globalization and knowledge-based economy age? How shall an engineering company adapt itself to these changes and provide rational recommendations to project owners? In this essay, the author puts forward her own opinions on development of engineering companies through discussion on ammonia project management and construction.The author of this Paper tries to use modern project management philosophy and methods to describe and analyze the management and construction performance of large-sized ammonia projects in China as well as the project management of the author's company, discussing and probing into effective ways of improving project management ability and level of Chengda. It is also expected that these research results would be helpful and inspiring to domestic engineering companies in improving their project management.The basic frame and thoughts of the Paper is: 1. Status Quo and Analysis of Domestic Project Managment; 2. General Description of Project Management Philosophy and Methods; 3. Brief Presentation and Analysis of International Project Management Pattern; 4. Conventional Management Patterns of Large-sized Technology-imported Ammonia Projects in Different Economic Stages of China and Comparison between Large-sized Ammonia Project Management Patterns Adopted by Chengda in Recent Years; 5. Detailed Analysis on Typical Project Management Pattern in China; 6. Thoughts and Measures of Chengda to Adapt Itself to Project Management Pattern Change.