The Frontiers of Project Management Research

David Wilcmon, Ph.D.Syracuse University

The purpose of this chapter is to share one researcher's perspectives and experiences on project management research. The chapter begins by identifying some of the early issues researched and how these studies helped identify and explain some of the underlying managerial and theoretical foundations of project management. The chapter also discusses four areas of research currently under way, which hopefully will add to the growing knowledge base in project management and help those charged with managing today's complex projects.

Building a Research Platform

Project management became part of my life in the late 1960s when I was asked to join a multidisciplinary team to study the National Aeronautical and Space Administration's (NASA) Apollo Program (Moon Landing Program). James Webb, the administrator of NASA at that time, believed that NASA was doing something remarkable and worthy of scholarly research attention. Syracuse University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Northwestern University, among other universities, were invited to participate and "use NASA as a living laboratory." I was asked to join the, "Management of the Apollo Program", study team at Syracuse University, consisting of three aerospace and mechanical engineers, a sociologist, a political scientist, and two researchers from our school of management. For the next four years we studied NASA's project management system extensively, e.g., NASA's Headquarters in Washington D.C.; Houston (spacecrafts and the Lunar Excursion Module Program [LEM Program]); Huntsville (engine/rocket programs); Cape Kennedy (launch programs); and several supporting contractors—Boeing, McDonald-Douglas, Rocketdyne, IBM, North American Rockwell, and so on. My specific responsibility was to study the role of the NASA project manager.

Some of the major highlights resulting from our work on NASA's Manned Spaceflight Program follow (Syracuse University/NASA Research Program 1973a and 1973b):

• NASA project managers faced major challenges garnering support for their projects. Many of the experts who could contribute to specific projects were often located in other functional groups, other NASA organizations, as well as in the companies (the contractors) who supported NASA. Project participants often had to deal with conflicting agendas, priorities, multiple bosses, diverse political agendas, and so forth.

• Intense conflicts often occurred over schedules, priorities, administrative procedures, budgets, and technological choices. NASA project managers often spent considerable time negotiating with people and organizations beyond their project teams.

• Team performance and dynamics varied greatly.

• Project control systems were often crude and labor-intensive.

• Problems were often required to be resolved in "real-time."

• There was a massive amount of experimentation and learning involved in each major project.

• The concurrent management of multiple projects was, perhaps, the major managerial challenge.

This initial experience in studying one of the most complex programs ever undertaken helped provide this author with a foundation and the desire to research a number of issues associated with the field of project management. During the next several years we, and many other researchers around the world, continued our efforts to add to the emerging project management knowledge base.