The paradoxes of project management
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to understand what paradox of project management is and how having knowledge of it can help a project manager understand what is counterintuitive when managing a project. Thus, reducing the probability of making project governance mistakes. The paradox of project management is understood as a contractionary concept that does not seem to have logic cause and is there for not intuitive or understood as common knowledge. However, the concept is considered well founded or true. Knowing this as a project manager is key. The knowledge can provide deep insights in the general nature of every project. Also, the understanding found in this abstract is applicable throughout the different project management discipline. To investigate the paradox of project management, the article investigates different types of paradoxes within the discipline of project management. Hereunder the paradox of planning, the paradox of front-end project management, the result versus effort-oriented project management and so on. At the end of the article limitations and applicability of the findings are discussed. The investigation conducted is based on relevant papers founded on either literature review, research, or case study.
The Big Idea: How understanding the paradoxes of project management can improve execution of the project
What is a paradox?
Definition of the paradox
The concept of the paradox
Where do we see paradoxes in project management?
Explanatory example of a paradox within the field of project management
What kind of paradoxes are there?
Deep dive into different paradoxes within project management
The following paradoxes will be discussed in-depth
Control vs. result
Project control
Front end management
Early information overflow
Strategic alignment
Cost estimation
Within every discussed paradox there is a thorough review of the paradox. The review consists of a walkthrough of available literature and further investigation of the paradox. The paradox will, if possible, be linked to other relevant theory within the field of project management and management. Furthermore, this section will look into the insights that these paradoxes provide in order to navigate them as a project leader, project member or stakeholder to a project. This part will function as the main part of the article.
