Project management: Recent developments and research opportunities

Abstract

This paper studies the business process known as project management. This process has exhibited a remarkable growth in business interest over the last 15 years, as demonstrated by a 1000% increase in membership in the Project Management Institute since 1996. This growth is largely attributable to the emergence of many new diverse business applications that can be successfully managed as projects. The new applications for project management include IT implementations, research and development, new product and service development, corporate change management, and software development. The characteristics of modern projects are typically very different from those of traditional projects such as construction and engineering, which necessitates the development of new project management techniques. We discuss these recent practical developments. The history of project management methodology is reviewed, from CPM and PERT to the influential modern directions of critical chain project management and agile methods. We identify one important application area for future methodological change as new product and service development. A list of specific research topics within project management is discussed. The conclusions suggest the existence of significant research opportunities within project management.

Keywords

Project management / overview / recent practical developments / opportunities for research

References

[1] agilemanifesto.org. (2001). Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Available via DIALOG. http://agilemanifesto.org/

[2] Amram M., Kulatilaka N.. Real Options: Managing Strategic Investment in an Uncertain World, 1999, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press

[3] Aumann R., Serrano R.. An economic index of riskiness. Journal of Political Economy, 2008, 116: 810-836.

[4] Bertsimas D., Sim M.. The price of robustness. Operations Research, 2004, 52: 35-53.

[5] Brânzei R., Ferrari G., Fragnelli V., Tijs S.. Two approaches to the problem of sharing delay costs in joint projects. Annals of Operations Research, 2002, 109: 359-374.

[6] Brown D.B., Sim M.. Satisficing measures for analysis of risky positions. Management Science, 2009, 55: 71-84.

[7] Cai, X., Hall, N.G. & Zhang, F. (2012). Cooperation and contract design in project management. Working paper, Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong

[8] Castro J., Gómez D., Tejada J.. A polynomial rule for the problem of sharing delay costs in PERT networks. Computers & Operations Research, 2008, 35: 2376-2387.

[9] Cooper R.G., Edgett S.J., Kleinschmidt E.J.. New problems, new solutions: making portfolio management more effective. Research-Technology Management, 2000, 43: 18-33.

[10] Corbett, C. & Muthulingam, S. (2007). Adoption of voluntary environmental standards: the role of signaling and intrinsic benets in the diffusion of the LEED green building standards. Working paper, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA

[11] Dickinson M.W., Thornton A.C., Graves S.. Technology portfolio management: optimizing interdependent projects over multiple time periods. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 2001, 48: 518-527.

[12] Fox G.E., Baker N.R., Bryant L.J.. Economic models for R&D project selection in the presence of project interactions. Management Science, 1984, 30: 890-902.

[13] Goh J., Hall N.G.. Total cost control in project management via satisficing, 2012, Columbus, Ohio: Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University

[14] Goh J., Sim M.. Distributionally robust optimization and its tractable approximations. Operations Research, 2010, 58: 902-917.

[15] Goldratt E.M.. The Critical Chain, 1997, Great Barrington, MA: North River Press

[16] Hall N.G., Long Z., Qi J., Sim M.. Managing underperformance risk in project portfolio selection, 2011, Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University

[17] Huchzermeier A., Loch C.H.. Project management under risk: using the real options approach to evaluate exibility in R&D. Management Science, 2001, 47: 85-101.

[18] Hurwicz L.. McGuire C.B., Radner R.. On informationally decentralized systems. Decisions and Organization, 1972, Amsterdam, Netherlands: North-Holland

[19] Kellerer H., Pferschy U., Pisinger D.. Knapsack Problems, 2004, Berlin, Germany: Springer.

[20] Kerzner H.. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 2009, 10th edition Hoboken, NJ: Wiley

[21] Kim Y.W., Ballard G.. Is the earned-value method an enemy of work flow?, 2000, Berkeley, CA: Department of Civil and Environmental Enginering, University of California at Berkeley

[22] Klastorin T.D.. Project Management: Tools and Trade-Offs, 2004, 1st edition Hoboken, NJ: Wiley

[23] Kotnour T.. Organizational learning practices in the project management environment. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 2000, 17: 393-406.

[24] Lukas, J.A. (2008). Earned value analysis — Why it doesn’t work. AACE International Transactions, EVM.01.1-EVM.01.10

[25] Markowitz H.M.. Portfolio Selection: Efficient Diversification of Investments, 1959, New York: Wiley

[26] Myerson R.. Incentive compatibility and the bargaining problem. Econometrica, 1979, 47: 61-73.

[27] MSDN Blogs. (2009). Architecture makes agile processes scalable. Available via DIALOG. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nickmalik/archive/2009/05/19/architecture-makes-agile-processesscalable.aspx. Cited May 19, 2012

[28] objectmentor.com. (2012). Agile/XP object mentor success stories. Available via DIALOG. http://www.objectmentor.com/omSolutions/agile_customers.html

[29] Parkinson, C.N. (1955). Parkinson’s law. Economist, November 19

[30] Parkinson C.N.. Parkinson’s Law: The Pursuit of Progress, 1958, London, UK: John Murray

[31] Patrick, F.S. (1998). Critical chain scheduling and buffer management: getting out from between Parkinson’s rock and Murphy’s hard place. Available via DIALOG. http://www.focusedperformance.com

[32] Peleg B., Sudhölter P.. Introduction to the Theory of Cooperative Games, 2003, Boston, MA: Kluwer.

[33] Pich M.T., Loch C.H., De Meyer A.. On uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity in project management. Management Science, 2002, 48: 1008-1023.

[34] Project Management Institute. (2008). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 4th edition

[35] Raz T., Barnes R., Dvir D.. A critical look at critical chain project management. Project Management Journal, 2003, 36: 24-32.

[36] Roy A.D.. Safety-first and the holding of assets. Econometrica, 1952, 20: 431-449.

[37] Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. (2007). The urban environment. Available via DIALOG http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm70/7009/7009.pdf

[38] Schindler M., Eppler M.J.. Harvesting project knowledge: a review of project learning methods and success factors. International Journal of Project Management, 2003, 21: 219-228.

[39] Schonberger R.J.. Why projects are always late: a rationale based on manual simulation of a PERT/CPM network. Interfaces, 1981, 11: 66-70.

[40] Smith P.G.. Flexible Product Development: Building Agility for Changing Markets, 2007, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley

[41] White D., Fortune J.. Current practice in project management: an empirical study. International Journal of Project Management, 2002, 20: 1-11.

[42] Wikipedia. (2011). Parkinson’s law. Available via DIALOG. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson’s_Law

[43] Wikipedia. (2012). Earned value management. Available via DIALOG. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_value_management

[44] wwwF. (2010). Living planet report. Available via DIALOG. http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report