Project Management and Organisational Change

Professor Lynn Crawford, Bond University, Australia

Dr Anat Hassner-Nahmias, Human Capital Practice, Presence of IT, Sydney, Australia

Alicia Aitken, PhD student, Bond University, Australia

Completion Date: 2011

Project Summary

Organisational changes are increasingly being managed as projects or programs.  At the same time there is increasing recognition that most projects involve some degree of organisational and / or behavioral change and that the effective management of such change is a factor contributing to project success.

Although project and program management standards address communications and stakeholder management, and these are important in the management of change, the standards do not specifically address the knowledge and skills required to manage organisational and behavioral change as identified in change management literature and standards (Hassner-Nahmias and Crawford, 2008; Hassner-Nahmias, 2009; Crawford and Hassner-Nahmias, 2010).

While management of organisational change has a relatively small representation in the project management literature, it is a central concern of the organisational behavior and development literature and the focus of at least two journals, the Journal of Change Management (Taylor & Francis) and the Journal of Organisational Change Management (Emerald).  The role of the Change Manager, usually with an organisational change and/or development background, is now well established although its support as a profession lags significantly behind that of the project management profession. 

Hence, there is potential for rich collaboration between project and change management as project management tends to be considered as practice rich and theory poor  and change management has a rich theoretical foundation in organisational behavior and development but has experienced little by way of professional formation. There is much to be gained from research that provides enhanced understanding of the relationship between project management and organisational change.  Expected contributions from such research are the enrichment of the theoretical underpinnings of project and program management; contributions to both theory and practice in project management and change management fields; opportunities for cross fertilization between project management and change management / organisational development research and literature;

The specific aims of this research, which is supported by funding from the Project Management Institute, are to identify

• the nature of organisational and behavioral change related activities associated with the management of projects / programs
• the nature of project / program management related activities associated with the management of organisational change projects
• the extent to which such activities vary relative to the type of project / program, context and degree of organisational and behavioral change involved
• patterns of relative involvement of those with project management, organisational development and other backgrounds in the management of organisational change projects and the organisational and behavioral change related activities associated with projects

Investigation is not be limited to projects considered to be organisational change projects but will encompass all projects on the assumption that the majority of projects involve some degree of organisational and / or behavioral change.  This approach is supported by research that suggests that the success of projects could be enhanced by increased attention to human factors.

Selected Publications

Crawford, L. H. & Hassner-Nahmias, A. (2010). Competencies for managing change. International Journal of Project Management, 28, 405-412.

Hassner-Nahmias, A. (2009). Who is the change manager? PhD Thesis Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia.

Hassner-Nahmias, A. & Crawford, L. H. (2008). Project Manager or Change Manager?  Who should be managing organisational change? In PMI Research Conference, Warsaw Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.