Improvisation in project management: A praxeology
L. Klein, C. Biesenthal and E. Dehlin, International Journal of Project
Management, volume 33, pages 267-277, 2015
Background
Software development projects are inherently complex. Attempts have been made to aid
project managers in controlling this complexity by developing tools. These tools are
processes, procedures and techniques (L. Klein et al. 2015, p. 267).
According to the authors nine different schools of project management can be identified.
All of these nine schools address different problems of the project management.
Combinations of multiple schools and improvisational practices are suited to addressing
complexity. The aim of the article is to develop “a praxeological meta-theory” that
provides the inclusion of all the currently known project management information in
relation to the context in which it is used. Praxeology is a deductive reasoning based on
the assumption that humans act in a rational way.
Results
Project managers simply rely on their knowledge rather than being guided by a strict
protocol or tool. This type of behavior can be described as improvisation; an aspect of
project-management practice that has not been sufficiently addressed in the dominant
project-management theories (L. Klein et al. 2015, p. 269).
According to L. Klein et al. 2015 project management can be divided into the nine schools:
Optimization, Modelling, Governance, Behavior, Success, Decision, Process, Contingency
and Marketing. These major schools of project management portray the difference and
variety of current knowledge used in project management combining all of these
approaches into one skeleton. According to the authors the main focus of for example the
Optimization school is to optimize project duration by mathematical processes and gain
performance in time. On the other hand, the main focus for example the Behavior school
is to manage the relationships between project members and enhance performance with
project members. In the real world one school of project management might or might not
help at all.
Improvisation has been categorized in four degrees. The first degree of improvisation takes
place in a context where project-management tools are follow very strictly (L. Klein et al.
2015, p. 271). This means that strict and linear approach where managers follow the project
plan or the process, but use their knowledge and expertise of improvisation when
applicable to fine tune ongoing project. The second degree of improvisation describes the
application of bricolage, a method that merely uses existing resources to accomplish a
successful project (L. Klein et al. 2015, p. 271). This means a pragmatic mindset with
contextual use of existing tools. The third degree of improvisation describes a pluralist
approach to project management to solve a particular problem (L. Klein et al. 2015, p. 271).
The last and fourth degree of improvisation describes a potentially radical departure from
the existing plan (L. Klein et al. 2015, p. 271) and means heuristic practices with pragmatic
context. All improvisation degrees can be used to provide a support for project managers
during the development process creating flexible behavior and allowing out-of-the-box
thinking. According to the authors (p. 274) the improvisation transforms best practices, as
proposed by the different theories, into context-dependent practical tools for successful
project management.
The authors contribute to the current debates in project management and the initiated
practice-turn (L. Klein et al. 2015, p. 276). The approach, a praxeology, used in the article
is a deductive study of human actions and was used to improve understanding of project
management. The version of praxeology used by the authors combines theoretical
knowledge and improvisational practice by using the multiplicity of existing project
management theories.
Conclusions
The authors come to the conclusion that there is no silver bullet: no one tool or school of
thought solves all problems at all times. The proposed improvisation is needed to select the
right tool or approach in any situation. The authors go on to propose the creation of a book
of knowledge that contains multiple theories and approaches to solving project
management problems.
Kari Meriläinen