New possibilities for project management theory

Several prominent authors on project management have argued that the field needs to introduce alternative theoretical approaches for studying project management and to identify the implications of using these approaches when organizing and managing projects. This paper examines several alternative perspectives so as to more critically understand the impact of practicing project management, perspectives that look beyond the common language used to explain functionally driven models and prescriptions for controlling complex projects. In doing so, it describes the field's current view of projects and its research on re-examining the discipline's intellectual foundation. It looks at how projects are conceived and could be conceived. It discusses--in relation to the field's literature--the history of project management and its evolution as both a field of study and a discipline of practice.