ABSTRACT

Project management has a long and rich history stretching back thousands of years. Large public works of historical significance were only possible using project management techniques. It doesn’t take much imagination to recall some of the great project achievements of humankind. These are often known as the wonders of the ancient world. Some of them include the Tower of Babel, Great Pyramids, Roman Aqueducts, Great Wall of China, Nazca Lines, or perhaps even Noah’s Ark or Solomon’s Temple. More recent examples include the Taj Majal, Panama Canal, Hoover Dam, Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, and Suez Canal. The great engineering feats of World War II were also remarkable, including aircraft carriers, long-range bomber aircraft, submarines, radar, V-2 rockets, jet engines, and atomic bomb. Aerospace projects included

15.1 Introduction 187 15.2 Organizational Theory and Project Management 190

15.2.1 Scientific Management View 192 15.2.2 Human Behavior View 192 15.2.3 Project Management View 194

15.3 Case of the Enterprise Lean Six Sigma Initiative 195 15.4 Summary 199 Further Reading 201

Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Voyager, Space Shuttle, Hubble, Space Station, Opportunity, Curiosity, and so on. The Hadron Collider, Chunnel, Dubai Tower, Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, and Syncrude Tailings Dam are modern wonders. How about large information technology projects such as the Internet, Facebook, Amazon, eBay, iTunes, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and the like? Even large multimillion-member organizations qualify as projects, such as the US DoD, China’s People’s Liberation Army, China Railway Corp., Walmart, and McDonald’s, among others.