PROJECT MANAGEMENT AS A SUBJECT: An evaluation of the project concept's development in modern times - as an established subject area

摘要

Project leadership is a subject undergoing constant change caused by the work form's growing use and recognition. The project concept is constantly being found useful and relevant in new areas. and project activity has become one of modern society's instruments for shortening the distance between desires and reality. "Project" is a signal for realisation, an arena for drive and perspective. Project work is the recipe for how new efforts, new knowledge and new assets can be combined and managed so that we become more competent at changing our surroundings and ourselves in ways we desire and have faith in. Participating in projects is today a way of life, a way of working and a form of communication. Seen from a historical perspective, many of the forms of project work we used 20-30 years ago were somewhat different from those we use today and not only because the form of work has proved to be useful outside the traditional, technical domains. Quantity wise, project work also constitutes a far larger share of companies' and organisations' total work- load than previously. Project work today is everything from billion pound investments at sea and on land, to simple, problem- solving exercises that can be defined within the project concept's reference. A If the target for a problem-solving exercise can be specified, time limits and resources fixed, and the effort is of a particular nature, just about any problem that requires a co-ordinated human effort can be tackled as a project. It is as a result of this development, that the way project work is carried out has changed character. From being an operative, tool-orientated concept for practical completion of construction type exercises, projects today are central instruments of companies and organisations' tactical and strategic operations~2. Today's projects do not just have defined targets and frameworks, they have strategic aims, they are expected to give organisational assistance that stimulates collaboration and communication, and they are expected to provide individual knowledge development and new, competence.