Verktækni - 2019, Síða 102

102

Morris (2013), the major drivers in project management at present have to do with social challenges,
funding, the need for increased competency in project management, a more value driven approach and
leadership.

The major drivers in project management today—as seen by Morris (2013)—are reflected in the way
some academics talk about forthcoming trends and emphases in project management research and
practice. Project management has reached a certain level of maturity, and the future focus of project
management will be more on the organisational context, program and portfolio management (Grau,
2011). This includes effective governance of projects, programs and portfolios, human resource
management and a general change in emphasis from specific technical and industrial issues to a broader
organisational context (Turner, Anbari and Bredillet, 2013; Pollack and Adler, 2015; Geraldi and
Söderlund, 2017). We will also be seeing a refinement of the understanding of success in projects,
renewed definitions of success factors and success criteria, a broader conceptualisation of projects and
a need to look at the wider picture - as seen from the organisation—rather than the narrow project
picture (Turner, Anbari and Bredillet, 2013; Dalcher, 2016). A related, important issue is organisational
strategy and its link to project management, together with macro project studies and strategy of
project-oriented organisations (Turner, Anbari and Bredillet, 2013; Pollack and Adler, 2015; Geraldi and
Söderlund, 2017).

Increased complexity and how to deal with this will also be a major issue for the future (Sveivik and
Andersen, 2015; Dalcher, 2016). Last but not least, an increased focus on environmental issues and the
enormous challenges humankind is faced with will be an important variable for future research and
practice in project management (Morris, 2013; Pollack, Adler, 2015). This is a key message of Morris in
his book from 2013 on reconstructing project management, where he talks about global warming and
the overwhelming and increasing importance of all its consequences, and claims that project, program
and portfolio management will have a huge role in making sure that implementation perspectives are
taken into account in the forming of strategy and creation of policy (Morris, 2013).

Useful information about ongoing trends in project management can also be found in the topics
addressed at some of the more important project management research conferences. In June of 2017,
the biennial IRNOP (http://irnopboston.org, International Research Network on Organizing by Projects)
conference was held in Boston. At the conference a total of 81 presentations were given on a wide
range of project management themes, where half of the presentations had to do with the organisational
perspectives of projects and projects in the context of the organisation. Examples of such themes are
leadership and decision making, megaprojects, programs and portfolios, stakeholder management and
sustainability in project management, which has become an import topic. Similar trends could be seen in
the annual EURAM (www.euram-online.org, European Academy of Management) management
conference in Glasgow in June 2017, in Iceland in June 2018 and in Lisbon in June 2019. This indicates
how the field of project management has been broadening and will continue to broaden in the coming
years and be even more concerned with the management of project-oriented organisations, rather than
with the management of individual projects.