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Project Management in a Complex World

   

Added on  2020-03-04

4 Pages2074 Words2812 Views
Leadership Management
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Literature review on project managementIntroductionThis is a literature review on the practices of project management which explores a part of thecurrent debates about the subject. It was conducted using an explorative and unstructured methodof review which explored the project management process by studying different textbooks andarticles on project management that offered different insights and perspectives on the discipline.The purpose of the review is to identify different perspectives that exist on the practice of projectmanagement.Literature ReviewOver the past decades, new perspectives on project management have emerged thanks to theintroduction of new tools, methods, and practices that move beyond the traditional CorporatePerfomance Management (CPM) thinking. The traditional approaches to project management havebeen broadly criticized by researchers who felt that CPM is an incomplete and insufficient method asit lacks the level of detail required[ CITATION Per151 \l 16393 ].Complexity of projects and the complexity of their environment are part of the main arguments thatcall for rethinking traditional project management. This rethinking has shifted the perspectives fromsingle project exploration in isolation to the management of multiple projects. Aretha et al. (2009) has argued that a multiple project environment presents challenges that is verydifferent from the single project management challenges[ CITATION Dia09 \l 16393 ]. He used thecomplexity theory in order to understand the multi-project environment and identified it as acombination of complex adaptive systems. Mayor et al. (2006) reflected on the programs andportfolios that can be seen as mechanisms for managing projects in organization. According to him,they create different issues than those in a single project face[ CITATION Ala112 \l 16393 ]. Thus,there is a need that a project manager and his team must obtain transferable project managementskills Leybourne (2007) describes a perspective which sees project management as an open value systemthat focuses on social and political aspects rather than on the tools and procedures [ CITATION Ley10\l 16393 ]. These social and behavioural considerations have expanded the discipline of projectmanagement. Clarke (2010) explored the impact of emotions on the behaviour and decisions of aproject manager with respect to projects[ CITATION Nic081 \l 16393 ]. His empirical study showedthat emotional intelligence has a direct posititve effect on the success of projects. Sense (2009)focused on the social learning that is obtained by a project team during projects, showing that thiscan help to build a learning culture and organisational learning, both positively impacting acompanies’ success[ CITATION And094 \l 16393 ].Small and Walker (2010) state that the socialcomplexities on a project are created from the human plurality and thus, the project managementstrategy used must follow a continual adaptation to be able to respond to the changes in power andpolitical scenarios on projects[ CITATION Joc10 \l 16393 ].
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Over the last decades, alternative methods, approaches and perspectives have been identified thatallow practitioners to rethink on the traditional project management practice. This helps them tobetter cope with the complexities and uncertainties during projects. Berggren and Söderlund (2008)identified how education practices have affected the knowledge and production capacities of projectmanagers[ CITATION Ber08 \l 16393 ]. According to Louw and Rwelamila (2012), project managerscan be linked with the reflective partitions that emerge from educational institutes[ CITATIONThe127 \l 16393 ]. Sewchurran (2008) supported the view by presenting an alternative model thatfocuses on the education side of the discipline and explored the reflective practices throughimprovisation and contingencies[ CITATION Kos08 \l 16393 ].Crawford et al. (2006) suggested thatthe increasing complexities on projects demand more education [ CITATION Pau09 \l 16393 ] andpractitioners who are willing to explore new theories on project management to acquire new skillsthat include more than just the technical skills[ CITATION San101 \l 16393 ].Thomas and Mengel (2008) stressed on the importance to be able handling complexity anduncertainty in the modern project environments[ CITATION Tho08 \l 16393 ]. Thus, he suggestedthat newer forms of professional development are required to prepare and educate projectmanagers to deal with such complexities. According to Kreiner (2002), a project manager needs tobe prepared to adapt plans in a changing environment[ CITATION Kri021 \l 16393 ]. Supporting thisview, Leybourne (2010) suggests that companies must provide the freedom to their projectmanagers[ CITATION Ley10 \l 16393 ] for experimenting through unstructured practices and taskmanagement methods[ CITATION JAl10 \l 16393 ].Most researchers are convinced that despite a vast exploration of traditional project managementpractices, very little has been explored about the actualities of project management. Subsequently,empirical investigation is needed in order to understand modern project management practices.Arguments have also been presented on whether the traditional practices have diverted from themodels and concepts. There is very limited empirical investigation done on the practice of projectmanagement. Thus, more exploration is needed as the field is only broadening crossing its currentlimits and perspectives that are present currently[ CITATION Jos142 \l 16393 ].With these explorations and added perspectives of multiple project management researchers, somenew models and theories have emerged in the recent past including evolutionary management andself-organization and systems thinking. Self-organization Theory: This theory sees projects as a self organized concept which exists in naturewith a tendency of growth and evolution. The growth is influenced by interactions between people,where for example new functions can emerge leading to self-organization. These self-organizedsystems have energy channels that enables both energy and information to flow in order to growthrough a feedback loop[ CITATION Ras11 \l 16393 ]. The process of self-organization can be seen asa combination of positive and negative feedbacks that expand the horizons of knowledge. Thesefeedbacks can be obtained from external parties or internal stakeholders. For example, approval andacceptance from external parties are positive feedbacks while rejection of criticism from them arenegative feedbacks. Similarly, assertiveness and compassion within internal teams have signals ofpositivity while lack of confidence and disinterest in them would reflect negative feedback. Thus,these feedback cycles are important to study, in particular when it is about understanding theevolution of project management[ CITATION Blo13 \l 16393 ]
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