Advantages And Limitations Of Traditional Project Management

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More drawback and limitation of traditional project management theories have been identified in a wide range of academic research, professional practice and international operation. It is necessary to clarify the definitions of key terms such as “classical view” and “insufficient” before comparing and analysing different authors’ views. In this paper, classical view could be defined as a methodology of project management institute (PMI) and international project management association (IPMA); insufficient also could be defined as the lack of effectiveness, efficiency and timeliness. This essay examines previous research to demonstrate different judgements of traditional methods in opposite sides. Maylor’s (2001) analysis and Yu and Chen’s (2013) They believe that traditional project management literature is not a multiple functional encyclopaedia but a guideline with theories to solve problems during the whole project. However, the reality is that traditional project management has been explored some limitations and shortcomings. This does not mean traditional method is wrong but develops this methodology. In other words, identifying the shortcomings and limitations of traditional views is not the final purpose, the purpose is to enhance and improve it with new knowledge and technology. Additionally, there are also some reasons why traditional project management literature becomes insufficient for applied practice. One reason is that it is difficult to engage the knowledge and theories of academic materials to real project practice. Saynisch (2005) argues that both project management institute (PMI) and international project management association (IPMA) are out of date and also have its limitation in terms of new requirements of current project, especially project management body of knowledge (PMBOK) which is based on PMI theories. However, PMBOK is still widely used in Australian universities to teach potential project managers. How university students could achieve in actual practice with outdated teaching materials. For example, a famous method called Gantt chart is widespread used in projects, which could clearly show all the detailed activities, schedule and packages. However, the reality is that in non-American and non-European organisations Gantt chart has been replaced by more advanced methodology such as Japanese project management methodology. In this situation, it is a problem whether PMBOK is still suitable to be the

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