Challenge in people management of contemporary project manager 
Challenge of contemporary project manager
2014 Aerospace Project Management course of ISAE
Yang Wan Ching
Introduction
Project management is a science and profession based on utilitarianism1 which means its goal will evolute by time along with the evolution of society. During the past decades, project management has already undergone rapid changes while trying to fit the challenge, however most analysis about those changes are in 2D dimension, in a substantial and problem oriented way. The purpose of this article is to put the third dimension
― time, into account and illustrates the need of change in a historical perspective.
The first part of this article is an analysis which in a pointview of evolution to understand and anticipate the change of project management. Second part is to further illustrate how those changes affect the environment of project management and eventually change the role of project manager. The last three parts are combination of conceptual and practical elements to elaborate one fact that the competence of a project manager is the key factor to both project success and organization success.
Evolution of project management
“A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to produce a unique product, service or result. And project management is the application of knowledge, tools and techniques to project activities to achieve project requirements.” ― PMBOK.
As society and organizational structures have shifted over years, the tools and techniques, methodologies, factors and requirements of project management have consequently changed as showing below in Figure1.
Figure1 project management evolution timeline2
1
Project management is a methodology which was originally developed to pursue maximum utility of resources in order to accomplish a common goal, in this case, I think it’s fair to say that it’s
2014 Aerospace Project Management course of ISAE
Yang Wan Ching
Introduction
Project management is a science and profession based on utilitarianism1 which means its goal will evolute by time along with the evolution of society. During the past decades, project management has already undergone rapid changes while trying to fit the challenge, however most analysis about those changes are in 2D dimension, in a substantial and problem oriented way. The purpose of this article is to put the third dimension
― time, into account and illustrates the need of change in a historical perspective.
The first part of this article is an analysis which in a pointview of evolution to understand and anticipate the change of project management. Second part is to further illustrate how those changes affect the environment of project management and eventually change the role of project manager. The last three parts are combination of conceptual and practical elements to elaborate one fact that the competence of a project manager is the key factor to both project success and organization success.
Evolution of project management
“A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to produce a unique product, service or result. And project management is the application of knowledge, tools and techniques to project activities to achieve project requirements.” ― PMBOK.
As society and organizational structures have shifted over years, the tools and techniques, methodologies, factors and requirements of project management have consequently changed as showing below in Figure1.
Figure1 project management evolution timeline2
1
Project management is a methodology which was originally developed to pursue maximum utility of resources in order to accomplish a common goal, in this case, I think it’s fair to say that it’s
References: 3. Allred, Brent B., Snow, Charles C., and Miles, Raymond E. (Nov 1996). Characteristics of Managerial Careers of the 21st Century. Academy of Management, 10 (4), 1727. 3. Sommerville, James, Nigel, Craig, and Hendry, Julie. (2010). The Role of the Project Manager: All Things to All People? Emerald Group Publishing, Limited, 28 (10), 132 – 141. 4. Torti, Maria T. and Webber, Sheila Simsarian. (2004). Project Managers Doubling as Client Account Executives. Academy of Management Executive, 18 (1), 60 – 70 5. Jan Terje Karlsen. (2002). Project stakeholder management. Engineering Management Journal Vol.14 No. 4 , December 2002.