New viewpoint on project management

A new viewpoint on project management was outlined to the audience by Prof Yvonne du Plessis during her inaugural lecture held on 28 October on the Mafikeng Campus.

In her lecture, with the topic: "People, projects, project management and organisational behaviour: A mutualistic symbiotic relationship", she pointed out that, even with centuries of project management experience, people still seem to struggle to manage and deliver projects successfully. She then stressed the fact that the human factor is the reason projects succeed or fail.

Explaining that with the introduction of project management as a management tool, it was regarded as the sole preserve of the building and construction industries, and later also the military. As a result, the development of project management was traditionally limited to the technical field as a developmental and commercial endeavour.

However, for a project to be successful, it needs the support of the entire organisation and the adoption of a project management culture needs to be accepted by everyone. "Managers and individuals need to have 'project management intelligence' and institutions need to have 'project management maturity'."

Prof Du Plessis' lecture could not have been as interesting as it was, had she not started by outlining a theoretical perspective providing logic for the application of her topic. She would also not have done justice to her lecture if she did not present a practical perspective viewing type of relationship through the lens of organisational behaviour. However, through her sense of humour, she successfully managed to grasp everyone's attention.

In her conclusion, she expressed her desire to contribute further to the people aspects of project management and the organisational behavioural perspective. "We must not forget that it is people who make projects successful and it is their behaviour that often makes projects fail."