This paper provides a consolidated review of near future trends in research topics on project management from different authoritative sources. The research is based on a literature review of several articles in Project Management Journals from 2008 and 2009. This paper also provides some recommendations and insights based on the review.
Review of New Project Management Trends Eric Tse
Abstract This paper provides a consolidated review of near future trends in research topics on project management from different authoritative sources. The research is based on a literature review of several articles in Project Management Journals from 2008 and 2009. This paper also provides some recommendations and insights based on the review.
Introduction Starting from the 2008/2009 time frame, the PMI/PM Journal has been encouraging submission of white papers to extend the boundaries of project management knowledge area and its relevant research. Different authorities have provided different views on what they see in the near future for project management. There are many common areas, and yet they perceive similar things in different framework and perspectives. Also each of the submissions has its own specialities and forecasts a different dimension for the extension of current project management.
Literature review Different authorities have extended the current PM knowledge regime into different dimensions.
Nine Schools of Project Management Research Bredillet[1], in his article, "Exploring Research in Project Management: Nine Schools of Project Management Research" [1], define new project management in an abstract ways, in the forms of nine schools of thoughts . Nine schools of thoughts:
? Governance
? Marketing
? Behaviour
? Contingency
? Success
? Optimization
? Modelling
? Decision
? Process. "Productive research can be conducted on the interactions between project management and related management disciplines and can explore the relevance and impact of progress in other management disciplines on project management, including issues related to professional and social responsibility, ethics, and environmental and social impact of projects.
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The Second Dimension The second dimesion of stretching is to broaden the PM scope from traditional indutries to newer industries. "Research can be conducted on how project management is affecting other disciplines such as engineering, construction, information technology, pharmaceuticals, marketing, and operations management." [1] "Despite the broadening use of systematic approaches to project management, the majority of related literature is focused on a handful of industries-construction, engineering, government, information technology, and utilities-that have, until recently, been the traditional areas for project management." Currently, the non-traditional project management areas include banking, pharmaceuticals, consulting, advertising, legal, health care, safety, and non-traditional manufacturing and industrial sectors (Kerzner, 2001). In recognition of growth, scholars and practitioners have begun to include viewpoints generalized across the field as well as perspectives from specific industries." [2] Research directions for non-traditional areas: [2] (1) What is the availability of quality project management literature in non-traditional industries?
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(2) What are the themes from the project management literature in non-traditional industries? (3) What topics or themes from the project management literature may be generalizable to nontraditional industries? and (4) What do systematically identified articles tell us about project management in the nontraditional areas identified?
The Third Dimension The third dimension is to intertwine project management with real/virtual social network etc. This is like "sociology of project management." For example the Chung and Hossian paper examines ".the effect of social network position, structure, and ties on the performance of knowledge-intensive workers in dispersed occupational communities. Using structural holes and strength-of-tie theory, we develop a theoretical framework and a valid and reliable survey instrument." Also, they apply network and structural holes measures for understanding its association with performance. Empirical results suggest that degree centrality in a knowledge workers' professional network positively influences performance use, whereas a high... [download for more]
