Is project management content as generic as its name?

Generally giving a definition and boundary for project management is very difficult! Even giving a definition for management is very challenging. I just want to talk about some reflection about project management content as an insider.
The term project management is used a lot for describing the management of activities which are done for assignments and works in the format of projects. But I have recognized that a lot of this area referred to as project management body of knowledge is actually based on the construction industry practices. It does not mean that project management in construction industry is more advanced than the other industries but because of certain characteristics of this industry the project management practices in this industry is more standardized and formalized. For example earned value, CPM, change control systems are very applicable in construction industry than in NPD or software development. This is also recognizable in how PMI and APM is promoting this knowledge area. Both PMI and APM body of knowledge are biased to construction industry. Looking to International Journal of Project management you can also see the large proportion of publications related to construction indutry while other industries are not much present.
In fact the imbalance toward construction industry can only be attributed to differences in types of operations. Construction is low technology, labor intensive and require large capital. It is very difficult for project workers for example in software development to use the same methods used in construction. Fundamentally it is very difficult to plan very rigidly(as it is in construction
) in software development. Software development is high technology, complex and include many uncertainties.
We see in many non-construction industries that the managers demand their employees to deploy project management methods while PM body of knowledge is not actually designed for them. Project management is a fascinating general term but actually it is not in content!

New JOM Editor in Chief Perspectives

The document describe the policy of the new editor in cheif of the Journal of Operations Management. Very interesting methodological discussion about what is in demand in operations management research: http://www.mbs.ac.uk/research/documents/Handfield.pdf

My endnote file

You can find my endnote file with the references I use for project management at the following address:
http://www.geocities.com/yaghootkar/My-references-1-May.enl

New Book

The Business of Projects: Managing Innovation in Complex Products and Systems
Andrew Davies, Michael Hobday

A scholarly book about the contemporary project management, indicating the migration of the ptoject management from th rigid tool based approaches to approaches giving more value to innovation and system integration.

I have not completely covered the book. Keep here posted as I progress.

References:System Dynamics in Project Management

Simulation mehtods have been used to analyse the project management since long time ago. However I think simulation methods has much more potentials for analysis of practices in project management. Below is a list of the academic references for the ones who are interested to investigate in this area:



Abdel-Hamid, T. K. (1988). "Understanding the 90% syndrome in software project management: A simulation case study ". Journal of Systems and Software 8: 109-119.

Abdel-Hamid, T. K. (1990). "On the Utility of Historical Project Statistics for Cost and Schedule Estimation: Results from a Simulation-based Case Study". Journal of Systems and Software 13: 71-82.

Abdel-Hamid, T. K. (1992). "Investigating the impacts of managerial turnover succession on software project performance ". Journal of Management Information Systems 9: 127-144.

Abdel-Hamid, T. K. and S. E. Madnick (1991). Software Project Dynamics: An integrated approach. Prentice Hall. USA

Ackermann, F., C. Eden and T. Williams (1997). "Modeling for Litigation: Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches". Interfaces 27(2): 48-65.

Ford, N. D. (1995). The Dynamics of Project Management: An Investigation of the Impacts of Project Process and Coordination on Performance. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. PhD dissertation.

Ford, N. D., D. M. Lander and J. J. Voyer (2002). "A real option approach to valuing strategic flexibility in uncertain construction projects". Construction Management and Economics 20: 343-351.

Ford, N. D. and J. Sterman (1998). "Dynamic Modeling of product development processes". System Dynamics Review 14(1): 31-69.

Howick, S. (2003). "Using system dynamics to analyse disruption and delay in complex projects for litigation: can the modelling purposes be met?" Journal of Operational Research Society 54: 222-229.

Howick, S. (2005). "Using system dynamics models with litigation audience". European Journal of Operational Research 162: 239-250.

Levary, R. R. and C. Y. Lin (1991). "Modelling the Software Development Process Using and Expert Simulation System Having Fuzzy Logic". Software-Practice and Experience 21(2): 133-148.

Levary, R. R., D. J. Synott and C. Y. Lin (1988). "An Intelligent Dynamic Simulation Model for Designing Software Development Processes". OMEGA 16(6): 569-575.

Love, P. E. D., G. D. Holt, L. Y. Shen, H. Li and Z. Irani (2002). "Using system dynamics to better understand change and rework in construction project management systems". International Journal of Project Management 20: 425-436.

Lyneis, J., K. Cooper and A. E. Sharon (2001). "Strategic management of complex projects: a case study using system dynamics". System Dynamics Review 17(3): 237-260.

Repenning, N. P. (2000). "A dynamic model of resource allocation in multi-project research and development systems". System Dynamics Review 16(3): 173-212.

Roberts, E. B. (1964). The Dynamics of Research and Development. Harper and Row. USA

Roberts, E. B. (1974). "A Simple Model of R&D Project Dynamics". In E. B. Robert (Ed). Managerial Applications of System Dynamics. Cambridge, MA, Productivity Press: 293-314.

Rodrigues, A. and J. Bowers (1996). "The role of system dynamics in project management". International Journal of Project Management 14(4): 213-220.

Rodrigues, A. and T. Williams (1998). "System Dynamics in project management: assessing the impacts of client behaviour on project performance". Journal of Operational Research Society 49: 2-15.

Williams, T. (2002). Modelling complex projects. Wiley. Chichester

Williams, T., F. Ackermann and C. Eden (2003). "Structuring a delay and disruption claim: An application of cause-mapping and system dynamics". European Journal of Operational Research 148: 192-204.

Williams, T., C. Eden, F. Ackermann and A. Tait (1995). "The Effect of Design Changes and Delays on Project Costs". Journal of Operational Research Society 46: 809-818.

APM student memberships is free

Good news for students in project management. Student memebership to APM is free. visit their website at http://www.apm.org.uk/

References

It is very difficult to find good references for project risk management. Here I post some of the them which I can recommend to readers:

Chapman, C. B. and S. Ward (2003). Project risk management : processes, techniques and insights. Wiley. Chichester

Flyvbjerg, B., N. Bruzelius and W. Rothengatter (2003a). Megaprojects and risk: An anatomy of ambition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge

Loch, C. H., M. E. Solt and E. Bailey (2004). Managing Projects with Unforeseeable Uncertainty: How a Learning Project Management Approach Can Improve Venture Capital Returns. Working Paper, INSEAD: 1-22.

Pich, M. T., H. C. Loch and A. D. Meyer (2002). "On Uncertainty, Ambiguity, and Complexity in Project Management". Management Science 48(8): 1008-1023.

Kick off

This is the kick off of this blog. I hope I can contribute to the knowledge in the project management area.