Project management concepts, methods and application

This paper reports the findings of an empirical study of project management (PM) practice and of attitudes and opinions of people involved in projects in UK organisations, to determine the extent to which PM has evolved into being broader in its concepts, methods and application than “traditional” PM. Based on previous research and survey data, characteristics of an “emergent” PM approach are described. This leads to the establishment of a number of possible normative theories relating to the management of projects, but empirical evidence shows situations in which there are problems in applying the theories in practice. It is concluded that there is an opportunity for the PM community to provide leadership through the development of valid and useful theories, but in order to do this there is a need for further research.