Exploring research in project management

Contemporary project managers must not only possess the skills required to meet cost and time targets, they must also master the competencies needed to make effective decisions, choose effective processes, select an appropriate approach, and engage stakeholders and executives. This editorial--the fifth in a series of six--reports the findings of a research team that includes the author working with noted project management researchers J. Rodney Turner and Frank T. Anbari, findings that have identified nine schools of thought that are shaping contemporary scholarship on project management. This series installment examines the final four schools--the decision school, the process school, the contingency school, and the marketing school. In doing so, it defines each school's focus, objectives, key developments, and contributions to project management's purpose and evolution.