A global trend in project management is the broadening of its application, concepts and methods. Decades ago, project management concentrated on the handling of specific tasks by the use of specific methods. Today, the label “project management” covers a spectrum of project-management approaches that includes broad variety and many nuances of methods.
This leads to a new vision for the fruitful interaction of project-management professionals. Over the decades, much mental energy has been spent on standardizing project-management approaches and convincing other professionals about common global methods.
However, the broadening implies that the project-management profession has changed its nature. By accepting the pluralistic character of project management, a platform can be created for the improvement of the profession and for learning from each other's theories and experiences.
BROADENING OF APPLICATIONS
The application of project management has, during the 1970s and 1980s, changed dramatically in terms of tasks, timing and participants. This can be summarized in terms of three trends, as follows:
- from handling technical types of development and investment, towards the management of all types of major unique task and the management of most types of change,
- from focusing on the period from contracting up until commissioning, towards handling the entire life cycle from conception to the full-scale utilization of the project outcome,
- from having participants with the same professional and/or national background, towards facilitating cross-professional and/or cross-national cooperation.
In the 1990s also, there are still many projects of the from type. However, an increasing number of projects are moving step-wise towards the towards type of project.
BROADENING CONCEPT
The changing character of project tasks, timing and participants creates a need for a renewed focus on managing projects, as follows:
- from focusing on the management of each individual project, towards handling each project as an element in a network of projects and other activities in the cooperation,
- from concentrating on managing quality, time and resources within well defined frames, towards focusing on the integration of the project performance, including interaction with its environment,
- from perceiving project management to be mainly the task of the project manager, towards focusing on all the management efforts needed, including contributions from top managers and project participants,
- from applying the same concept to all the project phases, towards selecting appropriate management concepts for each major phase of the project's life cycle.
If a project can be handled successfully by using the classic concept in the from category, this is recommendable, since this demands less effort and mental energy in comparison with the efforts required for the towards category.
Thus the broadening of the concept must not be seen as just a fashionable phenomenon, but as a consequence of the changed character of many projects.
BROADENING METHOD
As a consequence of the changing applications and concepts, it is also necessary to reconsider the splendid methods of project management. Within this field also it is necessary to face changes, as follows:
Republished from the International Journal of Project Management, volume II, number 2 (May 1993), pp. 72, with permission from Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd.
- from perceiving methods of project management to be unique for the project-management profession, towards seeing the methods as integrated elements in management methods in general,
- from focusing on the skills of specific methods and techniques, including EDP tools, towards the open-minded selection of the management methods needed, including methods of strategic planning, marketing and personnel management.
- from promoting predetermined models for project development and implementation, towards focusing on how to select appropriate management methods, and how to design procedures that are appropriate to the project situation.
In most projects, the management effort is also a critical resource. It is seldom possible to spend time and energy on all the tasks that are recommended in the project-management literature. Project management has to focus on the selection of the right method, and concentrate on tasks that are crucial for the success of the project.
BROADENING UNDERSTANDING
The key to meeting the challenges of managing projects in the 1990s is to develop the understanding of the broad variety of approaches to project management in countries, organizations and companies. The international arena of project management represents a colourful spectrum of concepts and methods.
Each approach to project management is useful for specific situations, types of project, and the culture of the participants. However, no approach can claim to be generally applicable, either nationally or internationally.
Pluralism is a key word for the management of today's projects, and mental openness is essential in making project management an even more powerful tool for the management of change both nationally and internationally. ❏
Organizational Profile
Morten Fangel is president of the International Project Management Association (INTERNET). He is a practicing consultant based near Copenhagen, Denmark, and has been an active participant in PMI Seminar/Symposia, conducting workshops as well as representing INTERNET
INTERNET is an organization with similar objectives as PMI. While PMI is a centralized organization with the majority of members in North America, INTERNET is a network of autonomous national societies with the majority of members in Europe. Each of the national societies has its own constitution and financial administration, conducts its own technical program, and has its own publications. They conduct their business and technical programs and disseminate information in their own national language. Some form regional groups equivalent to chapters. The national organizations focus on activities in their own country but some have members from other countries including the U.S. and Canada. These national societies have decided to become collective members of INTERNET, which coordinates activities at the international level. The official INTERNET language for administration, seminars, congresses and publications is English.
PMI and INTERNET have enjoyed a productive cooperative agreement for many years now with representative from each organization attending meetings of the other including the 1990 Congress in Vienna, Austria, the 1992 meeting in Florence, Italy, and the 1993 SOVNET meeting in Moscow, Russia. The next meeting is scheduled for 1994 in Oslo, Norway. For more information on attendance at that meeting, see the event date and contact telephone number listed on page 3.