Uncovering Trends In Pm

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

PROJECT MANAGEMENT International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 175–184 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman

Uncovering the trends in project management: Journal emphases over the last 10 years Lynn Crawford, Julien Pollack *, David England Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, Building 6, level 5, University of Technology, Sydney, 702 Harris Street, Ultimo NSW 2007, Australia Received 12 November 2004; received in revised form 12 July 2005; accepted 14 October 2005

Abstract The field of project management continues to develop in response to changing emphases in the management community and the demands of new project management application areas. This paper uncovers the trends of emphasis within the project management literature over the period 1994–2003, by analysing articles in the International Journal of Project Management and the Project Management Journal. Trends identified in this study are then compared to trends of emphasis identified in a variety of previous studies of changes to the field. These results are then synthesised to provide a overall impression of how the field is changing.
2005 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved. Keywords: Research trends; Text analysis

1. Introduction

2. Previous research

Project management, as a profession and area of research, continues to grow and develop. In response to project management being applied in new industries, countries and application areas, the demands on project management continue to change. These changes alter the way project management is perceived, the commonly accepted views of what it is to practice project management, and the way the field is represented in the literature. A variety of previous studies have already examined changes to the field, using many different approaches, finding diverse and sometimes contradictory results. This study reconciles these different results and adds new findings, examining the changing development of the field, as represented by keywords identified in the last 10 years of the International Journal of Project Management (IJPM) and the Project Management Journal (PMJ). Tendencies in the literature are identified, which indicate the future direction of the profession.

It is arguable whether project management is applied consistently and generically. Crawford [1] has found variation in project management knowledge and practices between industries, countries and application areas. Due to this variation in understanding and application of project management, it is useful to understand which kinds of projects dominate the literature on project management. However, it is difficult to establish the conclusive distribution of project size or practice over industry sectors, as responses to surveys are subject to sample bias. The influence of industry bias is identified by Evaristo and van Fenema [2, p. 276], who state that ‘‘. . .the current knowledge based on the management of projects emanates from large capital construction projects responsible for only 10% of the projects.’’ Betts and Lansley [3, p. 211] found that in project management ‘‘. . .by far the most frequently addressed industry was construction, followed by papers relating to the information and service sector and the process industries.’’ In a survey by Pinto and Slevin [4, p. 70], it was found that the construction industry constituted ‘‘. . .44% of the sample.’’ The two main industry sectors identified in a

*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 2 9514 8727/8754; fax: +61 2 9514 8875. E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Pollack). 0263-7863/$30.00
2005 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2005.10.005

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study by Themistocleous and Wearne [5, p. 11] were construction (46%); and, services (30%). The two main industry sectors in a survey by Zobel and Wearne [6, p. 37] were found to be: services (41%); and construction (23%). By contrast, the influence of sample choice becomes clear when the above industry distributions are compared to research by White and Fortune [7, p. 3] which found that over 25% of respondents were from the IT industry, 8% were from engineering and 2% were construction. Regardless of the ÔtrueÕ breakdown of project management amongst all industry sectors, it is clear from these studies that project management practice is heavily influenced by research emanating from the construction industry. If, as Evaristo and van Fenema [2, p. 276] have found, this sector represents only a small percent of the total number of projects executed, then there is an associated risk that research conclusions may be unquestioningly and invalidly transferred between industry sectors. In order to understand the field of project management as it currently exists, it can be useful to understand how it has changed over time. As a field, project management is regularly facing new challenges, as the tools, methods and approaches to management that comprise the discipline are applied to different areas, for different ends, in different cultures. As an ‘‘emerging profession’’ [8, p. 3], the field continues to grow and adapt, and can be said to have come along way from its origins in the 1950s, as academics and practitioners add new insight to the already wide range of practice options. During the 1950s, network analysis and planning techniques, like PERT and CPM, formed the focus of development in project management. In the 1960s, these techniques continued to be popular in the construction industry, but Cost/Scheduling Control System Criteria (C/SCSC) gained popularity within the defence and aerospace industries. Developments in the field of project management in the 1960s also included the formation of two major professional associations [9]. Shenhar [10] notes a focus on teamwork as a defining feature of project management in the 1970s, while Stretton [11] notes an emphasis on breakdown structures and systems concepts. The 1980s were typified by a focus on project organisation, project risk [10], the project front end, external influences to projects, and initial work on the development of project management standards [12]. Already a wide variety of topics can be seen to have influenced the field, some of which have left a lasting impression, while others have risen and dissipated as momentary areas of enquiry. Pascale [13, p. 19] analyses changes to the general management field since World War II, and notes that the idea of the professional manager relies on premise of the relevance of generic concepts that underlie management in all situations. Managerial techniques have become a ‘‘packaged goods industry’’, with the consequence that management techniques are only applied superficially or while fashionable, often only surviving for a short period. A great deal of similarity can

be seen between the forces influencing the general management and project management communities. Many of the past management fads have had merit. While ‘‘. . .there are valid aspects to most of these ideas, what is wrong is the piecemeal fashion in which they are implemented. . .’’ [14, p. 17]. Because of the superficial or transitory way in which many past management ideas have been applied, there has been little chance for in-depth learning regarding their efficacy. ‘‘Not surprisingly, ideas acquired with ease are discarded with ease. Fads ebb, flow – and even change by 180 degrees’’ [13, p. 20]. Similar changes can be seen within the project management literature. 3. Recent changes to the profession Change in the practice of project management does not continue at a steady pace. The rate at which new ideas are introduced to a field can be related to a variety of factors. Pascale [13, p. 18] links the consumption rate of management fads to times of sagging fortunes and managerial panic. However, the introduction of new ideas to a field can also be related to expansion into new application areas and inclusion of new practitioners, who bring new perspectives and challenge established patterns of behaviour. For instance, in 2000, Urli and Urli [15, p. 33] indicated that the ‘‘. . .field of project management has undergone very important developments during the last 10 years. . .’’ involving the extension of project management into new fields of practice. Seven studies stand out as relevant to an analysis of trends in the field of project management. Betts and Lansley [3] examined the first 10 years worth of articles in IJPM, using a system of weighted classification, covering the years 1983–1992. Themistocleous and Wearne [5] have provided a similar study, examining the frequency of project management topics between 1984 and 1998. Their study centres on IJPM, with limited comparison to PMJ. Zobel and Wearne [6] used the same method as Themistocleous and Wearne [5] to examine topic coverage in four project management conferences between 1996 and 1998. Morris, Patel and Wearne [16] have also completed a survey of interest, documenting the review of, and possible changes to, the UK Association for Project ManagementÕs Body of Knowledge. Morris [17] provides a portrait of contemporary project management research by examining the most popular topics in papers and book reviews from IJPM, PMJ and PM Network between 1990 and 1999. Urli and Urli [15] used a ‘‘scientometric method’’ of text analysis to analyse changes to the field. This approach was used to identify tendencies for association of keywords in all papers identified as relevant to project management in the electronic database ABI-INFORM, published within the period 1987–1996. Their study is unique in that their method purportedly elicits ‘‘. . .the most significant themes as defined by academics themselves rather than by an a priori classification’’ [15, p. 34]. Kloppenborg and Opfer also

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examined tendencies within the field of project management, looking for past, present and future trends. Their study purportedly analysed ‘‘. . .the vast majority of publicly accessible project management research that has been published in the English language between 1960 and 1999’’ [18, p. 52]. Although these studies examine different time periods, using different methods, comparison of the results received is interesting. The most significant trends identified in each of these above six papers have been identified and tabulated in Table 1. The category titles that have been used

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in Table 1 are taken directly from the relevant authors work. Four different kinds of trend are identified in these different papers: topics which are identified as of strong interest to the field of project management; topics which are not of interest; those topics of increasing interest; and those of decreasing interest. What immediately stands out in cursory examination of Table 1 is the variation in themes identified. Conclusions drawn from this might be that the interests of project managers have changed over the different periods studied. This, however, does not explain the differences in results for

Table 1 Comparison of identified trends in project management Dates covered by study

Communication Competency Context/environment Contracts Cost Financial management Goals, strategies HR projects Human factors Industrial relations Information management Information systems Innovation Integrative management Leadership Legal awareness Life cycles Management by projects Managers Monitor and control Operations research Optimising Organisational change Performance PERT Planning Procurement/purchasing Program management Project close Project start-up Project organisation Quality Requirements management Risk Safety, health, environment Scheduling Stakeholder management Standards/certification Stress Success criteria Systems management Teamwork Time

Themistocleous and Wearne [5]

Zobel and Wearne [6]

Urli and Urli [15]

Betts and Lansley [3]

Morris et al. [16]

Kloppenborg and Opfer [18]

Morris [17]

1984–1998

1996–1998

1987–1996

1983–1992

Pre 2000

1960–1999

1990–1999

›› ››

X

X

X

X X X · ›› X X X

››

X

X

X ›› ››

· X X X

X

›› X X

X

X

X X ›› ›› ›› X

X X · ·

››

flfl

X X

X · · X

›› Xflfl X››

X

X

X X››

X · X X X

X X

›› ›› ›› ››

Table key: X – An interest in the topic area. · – A lack of interest in the topic area. ›› – An increasing interest in the topic area. flfl – A decreasing interest in the topic area.

· ·

X

X X

X X

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studies that cover overlapping periods. Other possible, but unverifiable, reasons for differences in identified themes of significance might include variation between sample groups, differences in sampling method and differences in the ways that themes were identified. Indeed, different opinions about the nature of project management abound in the literature. For instance, Urli and Urli [15, p. 40] identified organisational change as of growing interest to project management, while Stretton noted that the literature ‘‘. . .has surprisingly little material on organisational change processes, and certainly no universally accepted guidelines for undertaking organisational changes as projects’’ [19, p. 1]. These contradictory observations were both published in 2000. Urli and Urli [15, p. 35] also identified Operations Research as the main theme in project management. However their observations about the significance of Operations Research are thrown into doubt as none of the other six mentions Operations Research. Furthermore, a search for ÔOperations ResearchÕ or ÔOperational ResearchÕ in electronic copies of the International Journal of Project Management reveals only three references to either of these terms [20–22]. A possible explanation of Urli and UrliÕs [15] claim concerning the significance of Operations Research to project management involves links between project management, Systems Engineering and Systems Analysis [23] and the systems field in general [24]. When read in the light of an observation by Daniel that: ‘‘Systems engineering or systems analysis . . .is now regarded as indistinguishable in practice from operational research’’ [21, p. 79], links identified by Urli and Urli [15] between project management and Operations Research become apparent. Comparison of the seven studies does, however, reveal some topics that are consistently regarded as significant. Topics that at least two studies identify as significant include: context/environment; information management; leadership; monitoring and controlling; performance; planning; procurement; project organisation; quality; risk; and scheduling. As is implied by the variation in the results of these different studies, the trends in the field of project management found by a study is partially dependant on the way researchers look for those trends. Different research methodologies are like different lenses through which we can see the world, no one of which gives an exclusive view of the truth. Rather, an idea of the objective truth can be developed by triangulating the results of different studies, conducted by different researchers. In the remainder of this paper, we uncover more recent trends, then by building upon the work of previous authors, we provide a synthesis of trends in project management between 1983 and 2003. 4. Research methodology This paper examines trends in the project management literature using Keyword Analysis, a technique developed in the field of Corpus Linguistics, a branch of Applied Lin-

guistics focusing on the computational analysis of corpora. Keyword Analysis identifies keywords in texts by comparing a subject corpus to a larger normative corpus, which acts as a base line for the study. Using this method multiple separate corpora can be compared to a single normative corpus [25, p. 1]. Different lists of keyword created can then be created, and can act as the basis for comparison of the subject corpora. In this study, four subject corpora were used to create keyword lists, each one being representative of a five year portion of either IJPM or PMJ. Subject corpora were composed of the titles and abstracts of articles appearing in the different journals. Book reviews were excluded from this compilation. Abstracts and titles of journal articles are generally highly indicative of the content of articles. By contrast, it was found that using the full text of articles introduced the possibility of repetitiously worded articles distorting results. Furthermore, abstracts tend to be of a similar length and as such there is less likelihood of the results being skewed due to an entry being of exceptional length. Five year periods were chosen as the basis of this study so as to align more clearly with previous studies. Betts and Lansley [3], Themistocleous and Wearne [5] and Urli and Urli [15] analyse trend data in five year time periods. Five year periods also allowed for the accumulation of sufficient data to indicate a trend. A variety of Keyword Analysis techniques can be identified in the Corpus Linguistics literature: v2; log-likelihood; t-test; the Mutual Information (MI) statistic; and the Mann–Whitney test. Of these, the t-test was discounted as it requires samples of the same size. This constraint could not be met by the samples of journal content, as the length of journals varies from issue to issue and year to year. The t-test also requires normal distribution of words, ‘‘. . .which is not in general the case for word counts’’ [26, p. 104]. MI was discounted as it overemphasises rare terms [26, p. 105], which would be common in an industry such as project management, which has developed a specialised vocabulary. The Mann–Whitney test was not used as it ignores word frequencies [25, p. 2], which are useful in understanding the role that words play in a text. The log-likelihood and v2 tests were both identified as appropriate tests for identifying keywords in this study. These tests are similar, in that the v2 and log-likelihood tests are two statistics on the same ‘‘. . .continuum defined by the power-divergence family of statistics’’ [25, p. 2]. Both of these tests can be used to produce lists of words that are considered to be keywords, based on the analysis of the relative frequencies of words. These tests also produce an index which can be used to indicate how key particular words are to a text. Results in this study were generated using both methods. The v2 test was finally chosen due to greater correspondence of results with a natural language understanding of keyness in a text. The v2 algorithm identifies keywords based on the comparison of the relative frequencies of words in a subject and

L. Crawford et al. / International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 175–184

normative corpus. The normative corpus provides a baseline frequency for word use. Words in the subject corpus identified as unusually frequent are tagged as potential keywords. This approach tends to emphasise words not common in general English, such as acronyms and words which could be considered to be project management jargon. WordSmith Tools [27,28], an integrated suite of programs for analysing how words behave in texts, was chosen as the text analysis software for this study. The normative corpus chosen in this study was the British National Corpus (BNC), a 100 million word collection of samples of written and spoken English, from a wide variety of sources, designed to be representative of current British English [29]. As the normative corpus is in English, this study is limited to analysing project management texts

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written in English. It is recognised that using a British corpus might have introduced some bias into the analysis of the texts, as IJPM is published in the UK. However, as no truly international corpus of written English existed at the time of writing, this bias was unavoidable. The change in the number of articles in IJPM and PMJ over the sample period is represented in Fig. 1. The number of words in each of the sample years is represented in Fig. 2. From these, it can be seen that both the number of articles and the sample size vary significantly over the sample period. The v2 algorithm was also chosen because results generated using this algorithm are not affected by variations in sample size. For each of the four five year subject corpora, the v2 algorithm identified in excess of 500 keywords. However,

Fig. 1. Number of articles by year.

10000

No. of words in samples

9000

IJPM 8000

PMJ 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

Year Fig. 2. Number of words in sample by year.

2001

2002

2003

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due to the limitations of the v2 algorithm, and its tendency to overestimate the keyness of terms with a frequency of five or less [25, p. 2] [30, p. 25], some low frequency keywords were discarded. Lists of the top 200 keywords for each subject corpora were used as the basis of analysis. Identified keywords were analysed for correspondence with, or indication of attention paid within a corpus to, one of 48 project management topics and 18 categories of topics (see Table 2). These categories and topics were identified in association with the development of global performance based standards for project management personnel. Their development is documented elsewhere [31, p. 4], and is based on topic lists used by previous analyses [5,6] of project management trends. However, the v2 algorithm is a statistical technique, and only produces a list of words which might be of significance in a text. Each of the top 200 keywords, for each of the subject corpora, once identified, were examined for the way they were used in the titles and abstracts of articles, in order to ascertain whether the term was being used in a way which indicated attention paid to one of these 48 topics or 18 categories of topics. Some of the identified keywords could either be rejected or included immediately, but the vast majority required examination of their textual context. This analysis has made use of two forms of triangulation in generating results. Creation and interpretation of results has involved both quantitative and qualitative processes: quantitative methods in the generation of keywords; qualitative methods in the assessment of the way that they words were used in the text. Furthermore, triangulation of results involved two researchers independently creating results, before results were compared. It was found that very little reconciliation was needed between the independently generated results.

Table 2 Topics and categories of topics (based on [31, p. 4]) Category of topic Cost Management

 Cost Management

Cross Unit Outcomes

   

Finalisation

 Project Closeout/Finalisation  Testing, Commission, Handover and Acceptance

Interpersonal

    

Legal Issues

 Legal Issues  Safety, Health and Environment

Marketing

 Marketing

Product Functionality

    

Program Management

 Program Management

Project Evaluation and Improvement

 Organisational Learning  Performance Management  Project Evaluation and Review

Project Planning and Control

 Change Control  Project Monitoring and Control  Project Planning

Project Start-up

 Goals, Objectives and Strategies  Project Initiation/Start-up  Success (Criteria and Factors)

Quality Management

 Quality Management

Relationship Management

 Benefits Management  Document Management  Information and Communication Management  Reporting  Team Building and Development

Resource Management

 Personnel/Human Resource Management  Procurement  Project Organisation  Resource Management

Risk Management

 Risk Management

Scope Management

 Scope Management

Strategic Alignment

   

Time Management

 Time Management

5. Results Results have been analysed both in terms of the 48 individual project management topics and at the level of the 18 categories of topics. Results for the 10 year period of this study are depicted in Fig. 4. The number of bars within a particular category indicates the number of different keywords found to indicate attention paid to this aspect of project management. The height of the bars indicates the ranked keyness of the individual keywords. Results indicate an increase in the keyness of some topics over the sample period. Project Evaluation and Improvement shows a slight increase in the attention paid to this topic over the time period in both journals. Interest in Strategic Alignment is also strong in IJPM and shows an increase in PMJ. An increase of interest is also evident in Cross Unit Outcomes, however there is considerable variation in how this interest is expressed at the topic level. On the other hand, attention paid to Quality Management and Interpersonal Issues decreases in both journals, showing a change in the trends identified in other studies [15,18].

Topic

Estimating Integration Management Project Context/Environment Project Life Cycle/Phasing

Conflict Management Leadership Negotiation Problem Solving Teamwork

Configuration Management Design Management Requirements Management Technology Management Value Management

Business Case Financial Management Project Appraisal Strategic Alignment

Other results could not be used to show a general tendency within the field, but instead indicated a difference in focus between IJPM and PMJ. For instance, Project

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Planning and Control decreases in interest in IJPM, while increasing in focus in PMJ. Relationship Management, while remaining strong in both journals, demonstrates the same tendency. Project Start-up and Time Management, conversely, increase in keyness in IJPM, while decreasing in keyness in PMJ over the study period. An interesting tendency can be seen in the results for both Resource and Risk Management. In both cases, in both journals, the number of keywords identified as indicating these categories decreases in the second period. However, in the second period the ranked keyness of the remaining terms increases. This could be taken to indicate stable interest in these topics and a standardisation of the terms used. No keywords were found within the top 200 to indicate attention paid to Marketing. Only a low level of interest could be seen in Legal Issues, Finalisation and Scope Management. The lack of interest in Scope can be seen as a con-

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tinuation of the trend uncovered a previous study [16]. The little attention paid to Finalisation in the first period vanishes in the second period. A lack of interest in Finalisation found in this research confirms the trend of low interest indicated by previous studies [5,6]. Other tendencies are apparent at the level of the 48 project management topics, which are not apparent in the 18 categories of topic. For instance, increased to attention paid to Estimating, Organisational Learning and Project Context/Environment increases in both journals. Decreases in interest in Controlling, Conflict Management, Problem Solving and Stakeholder/Relationship Management can be seen in both journals. Although interest in Procurement in IJPM remains strong, attention paid to this topic drops dramatically in PMJ. Some topics show opposite trends between the journals. Attention paid to integration increases in IJPM, but decreases in PMJ. Project Organisation becomes less key

Fig. 3. Topic coverage summary: 1994–2003.

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in IJPM, but becomes more key within PMJ. Keywords indicating a focus on the Project Life Cycle are common within IJPM, but comparatively rare within PMJ. Other keywords could not be taken as directly indicating an interest in one of the 48 project management topics, but did stand out in the keyword lists. For instance, it is clear that construction and engineering continue to dominate the literature, with keywords indicating both of these industries giving consistently high results in both journals and in both time periods. Defence and software both appeared in three of four time periods. Defence shows a slight decline in interest, while software shows a slight increase in interest over the study period.

Interest in reengineering projects is strong during the first sample period in both journals. IJPM even provided a Business Process Reengineering and Beyond special issue in 1996. However, attention to reengineering vanishes in the second period, with none of the top 200 keywords indicating interest in this kind of project. Issues of partnering also stand out, although the results are inconclusive. In PMJ, issues of partnering stand out as a top keyword between 1994 and 1998, but do not appear as a keyword between 1999 and 2003. Inverse results were found in IJPM, which demonstrated no interest in partnering in the first period and strong interest in the second period.

Period this study covers 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 Cost Cross unit outcomes Finalisation Interpersonal

Legal issues Marketing Product functionality Program management Project evaluation and improvement Project planning and control Project start-up Quality management Relationship management Resource management Risk management Scope management Strategic alignment Time management

Figure key:

Topic is reported as of significance Topic is reported as not significant Topic is reported as increasing in significance Topic is reported as decreasing in significance Fig. 4. Synthesis of project management trends: 1983–2003.

L. Crawford et al. / International Journal of Project Management 24 (2006) 175–184

The influence of Systems Dynamics can also be seen on articles in IJPM, with keywords in both time periods. It appears that the influence of complex systems thinking has increased in IJPM, with indicative keywords such as ÔcomplexityÕ and ÔemergentÕ making a strong appearance between 1999 and 2003. An understanding of which research methodologies are favoured within the project management literature can also be gleaned from this study. Three of the four sample periods produced keywords indicating a focus on the use of surveys or questionnaires and production or use of heuristics. Use of heuristics was particularly pronounced in PMJ. These results indicate a general tendency within the project management literature to focus on the use of surveys to produce heuristics for practice. 6. Synthesis with previous studies As can be seen in Table 1, previous studies [3,5,6,15–18] of trends in project management have found results which vary, and are even directly contradictory, over the same time period. The majority of these studies use different research methods, both to each other and to that used in this research. However, the differences in approach can be a strength if the different results can be brought together under a common framework (see Fig. 4), allowing for broader tendencies to be seen than are apparent in any one study. The different areas of significance identified by the other studies (the left column in Table 1) have been mapped onto 18 categories of topics used in this study. Results for all eight studies, including this one, have then been combined. The same four kinds of trends in Fig. 3 are presented Fig. 4: significance; lack of significance; increase; or decrease in significance. Information from each of the eight studies have been included in this figure, where the study clearly indicated one of these four kinds of trend, in one of the 18 categories. In some cases, contradictions are apparent, where contrary results have been found in different studies. Between 1990 and 1999, for example, different studies have found that aspects of the category Product Functionality are of significance and not of significance. In such a case, it is unclear whether a clear trend exists, with results in the studies in question possibly being dependant upon the particular research methods used. In other cases, cross over between studies has been found, where supporting information for a trend has been found. For instance, evidence in the different studies has been found to demonstrate an increase in the significance of the category of Project Evaluation and Improvement from 1983 to 2003, without any studies indicating a different kind of trend over this period. Risk and Cost have also shown consistent trends, being of significance and increasing in significance, respectively, although these trends do not extent over the whole period. Relationship Management is consistently reported as either being of significance or increasing significant, while

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the evidence suggests that Resource Management and Time Management are both also central to the field. Strategic Alignment has been found by other studies to be of significance, while this study found it to be increasing in significance. This suggests that Strategic Alignment could form an progressively dominant aspect of the field. By contrast, Finalisation, Scope Management and Marketing have either been ignored by previous studies or found to not be of significance in the PM literature. Interesting trends can also be seen in relation to Quality Management and Interpersonal issues. Although both of these topics have been found by previous studies to be of significance, and increasingly so, this study found a decrease in their significance. As mentioned earlier, fads ebb and flow [13]. Results from the synthesis of these studies suggests that although these topics may be important in managing projects well, the significance that is placed on these topics may have peaked. 7. Conclusion This paper has examined trends in the literature on project management. Seven previous studies of trends in project management have been examined, and the results contained in these studies brought under a single consistent framework. More recent trends (1994–2003) in the literature on project management have then been identified using Keyword Analysis, a method of computational analysis from the field of Corpus Linguistics. The clearest trends uncovered by this study include a clear reduction in focus on Interpersonal Issues and Quality Management in the project management literature over the last 10 years, while an increase in the significance of Project Evaluation and Improvement can be seen over the same period. Differences are also apparent in the foci of the International Journal of Project Management and the Project Management Journal focus upon. Many topic areas were found that increased in keyness in one journal, while decreasing in the other journal. More significant results were found when results from this study were then compared with previous studiesÕ results, providing a synthesis of trends in the field. Comparison of results from multiple studies has provided the opportunity for triangulation, and has mitigated against errors inherent in relying on a single research method. Synthesis of results revealed that Relationship Management, Resource Management, Time Management, Cost Management and Risk Management all displayed consistent significance throughout the study period. However, by contrast, Finalisation, Scope and Marketing tend to either be ignored by writers on project management or identified as not being of significance. Project Evaluation and Improvement and Strategic Alignment are both increasing in their significance to the field. Evidence also suggests that the significance of Quality Management and Interpersonal Issues has peaked, and that while these issues have previously been interest to writers in the field, this interest is waning.

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