‘Systems’ and Project Management

Some writers have asserted that project management actually derived from ‘systems’, and these are exampled. A brief summary of the nature of ‘systems’ is given, and the substantial contributions ‘systems’ have made to project management tools and techniques are summarized.  However, some project management approaches developed earlier than, and independent from, ‘systems’, particularly in the construction industry, and these are briefly discussed.

ASSERTIONS THAT PROJECT MANAGEMENT DERIVED FROM ‘SYSTEMS’

Several prominent writers say that project management derived from ‘systems’. For example, Yeo 1993;111 says

The practice of project management has its origin in systems analysis and systems engineering. Systems analysis requires the setting of clear and credible objectives and the formulation of viable alternatives. Systems engineering is goal-seeking, and emphasises communication and feedback control.

Kerzner 1979;13 said much the same thing, in asserting that

… project management is an outgrowth of systems management.

Cleland & King 1968;viii expressed similar ideas a little differently.

The modern analytical approach to the strategic planning aspect of management is most often termed systems analysis. In the execution process, similar ideas are applied under the label project management (or alternatively systems management, program management, or product management, depending on the environment.)

A somewhat similar connection is made by Checkland 1981;130 who equates engineering project management with systems engineering, as follows.

This picture of systems engineering as the total task of conceiving, designing, evaluating, and implementing a system to met some defined need – the carrying out, in other words, of an engineering project – is the one which persists throughout accounts of this activity; and from the 1950s on, many engineers and project managers in large organizations were consciously formulating the procedures needed to make such projects successful, including the necessary sequencing of activities as well as approaches to coordinating the efforts of numerous specialists.

If project management developments had been confined to the US military, the first three statements above could perhaps be justifiably defended. But developments in project management had also been proceeding in the process and construction industries, and these appear to owe little, if anything, to ‘systems’. However, before discussing these developments further, we look briefly at the nature of ‘systems’, and their contributions to project management.

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About the Author Alan Stretton, PhD Author Alan Stretton is currently a member of the Faculty Corps of the University of Management and Technology, Arlington, Virginia, USA. In 2006 he retired from a position as Adjunct Professor of Project Management in the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia, which he joined in 1988 to develop and deliver a Master of Project Management program. Prior to joining UTS, Mr. Stretton worked in the building and construction industries in Australia, New Zealand and the USA for some 38 years, which included the project management of construction, R&D, introduction of information and control systems, internal management education programs and organizational change projects. He has degrees in Civil Engineering (BE, Tasmania) and Mathematics (MA, Oxford), and an honorary PhD in strategy, programme and project management (ESC, Lille, France). Alan was Chairman of the Standards (PMBOK) Committee of the Project Management Institute from late 1989 to early 1992. He held a similar position with the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), and was elected a Life Fellow of AIPM in 1996. He was a member of the Core Working Group in the development of the Australian National Competency Standards for Project Management. He has published over seventy professional articles. Alan can be contacted at alanailene@bigpond.com.au.