Project Management

Project management (PM) is a term commonly applied to a set of tools and processes used to organize work. It is a loose conceptual term that encompasses work systems, planning and control mechanisms, and processes of management with a range of methodologies. Further complicating PM is the increasing application of the tools and techniques to diverse endeavors beyond traditional building tasks, such as in research (applied and conceptual), government policy implementation, health care delivery, software design, and, increasingly, business-as-usual tasks. What is of particular interest to sociologists of work is the preponderance of rational managerial tools used within PM to control and direct work and the increasing use of these tools and techniques in nontraditional PM areas.

Although the origins of the term project management are argued, it is commonly agreed that the concept of organizing work for a specific outcome within a defined time and expenditure has existed since people began building complex structures. The concept itself and the associated tools came to increased prominence in the latter half of the 20th century, primarily out of the construction and aerospace industries. This engineering origin of PM explains why the tools are often mathematical, normative, and rational, and tend to ignore what sociologists call the human factor—the complexity of the workers themselves.

Project management consists of a set of normative tools designed to control work so as to [Page 716]achieve the stated goal on time, within scope, and within budget. The time-scope-cost nexus is known as the “iron triangle” in PM and relates to the fundamental interaction and trade-offs between the cost of a project, the time it will take, and what it will achieve (scope). It is assumed that changing one will inevitably affect the other two.

For example, if time is fixed (because the project must be delivered at a specific time) and a problem arises, cost must increase or the scale (scope) of the project must contract. The Gantt chart is a schedule designed to illustrate phases of work in a project for ease of communication and typically is a component of a work breakdown schedule (WBS). A WBS is designed to break down the tasks of a project into discrete units of work, which allows resources to be allocated and timelines to be established. Other tools include risk matrices and plans, and stakeholder and communication plans. These tools are designed to control the work process. Methodologies and guides to PM include a number of proprietary commercial systems such as PMBOK and PRINCE2; these methods are formulaic “how-to” guides to running a project.