Viennese Project Management-days Project And Emotion

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

PROJECT MANAGEMENT International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 271–272 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman

Editorial

Viennese Project Management Days-Project and Emotions Every year, the Project Management Group of the University of Economics and Business Administration in Vienna, Austria, holds a project management event, called the Project Management Days, during a week between late October and early December. In 2003 it was held in the last week of October. The week usually consists of a research conference for researchers from academia and industry, held on the Wednesday, a practitioners conference for project management professionals, held on Thursday and Friday, and seminars for practicing project managers, held on Saturday. This year there was also a workshop for educators and researchers from universities to share experiences on Tuesday. Every year the weekÕs activities have a theme, and in 2003 it was Projects and Emotions. Conventional project management emphasizes the rational aspects, such as the management of time and costs using critical path analysis and earned value analysis. The theme of the conference was that the emotional response of the team and project stakeholders can have a significant impact on the project and needs to be managed.

1. Academic workshop, Tuesday 28 October 2003 On Tuesday, university professors from around the world met to share their experiences of offering education programmes (bachelors and masters degrees) in project management, and of conducting academic research. There were representatives from universities in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Britain, Ireland, France, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Romania and Russia, with about 20 people in total. The professors present described the content of the masters programmes they offered and the philosophy behind the programme. They also described their current research projects, and the philosophy behind their research approach. It was interesting to compare the similarities and differences from around the world, particularly comparing the mature project oriented societies from Western Europe and North America and the transition economies from Eastern Europe.

2. Research conference, Wednesday 29 October 2003 On Wednesday, researchers from universities and industry met for a research conference. There were 120 attendees. Highlights were papers by: 1. Professor Ali Jaafari of the University of Sydney, Australia, on the human and behavioural challenges facing project managers 2. Dr. Frank Anbari of George Washington University, USA, and Dr. Maria Romanova of the State University of Management in Moscow, on cultural differences in managing international projects 3. Mrs. Andrea Cerny, of the University of Economics and Business Administration Vienna on projects and emotions 4. Myself on communication and cooperation on projects 3. Practitioners conference, Thursday and Friday 30-31 October 2003 The practitioners conference, took place as usual on Thursday and Friday, with the theme Projects and Emotions. There were 240 attendees. Highlights were papers by: 1. Professor Roland Gareis of the University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna, on the challenges of emotions on projects 2. Dr. Martina Huemann, also of the University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna, and Mr. Reg Hayes of the consultants CMG Logica in the Netherlands, on emotions in project auditing, and the impact on the audit process 3. Adesh Jain of the Centre of Excellence in Project Management of India, on the challenges of creating a project mindset 4. Mr. Josef Semier, of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation on crisis management in the reorganization of Austrian television 4. Seminars, Saturday 1 November 2003 The week was rounded off by two day long seminars for project managers. There were about 10–12 people at each seminar. The seminar topics were:

0263-7863/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2003.12.001

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Editorial / International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 271–272

2. Conducting project and programme audits, conducted by Dr. Huemann and Mr. Hayes. The Austrian Project Management Days are a successful annual event, contributing to the development of Austria as a project oriented society. The social events and networking opportunities also contribute to the development and cohesion of the global project management community. (Fig. 1)

Fig. 1. Attendees at the Academic Workshop, Tuesday.

1. Programme and project portfolio management, conducted by Professor Gareis

J. Rodney Turner Editor Wildwood, Manor Close East Horsley Surrey KT24 6SA UK Tel.: +44-1483-282-344 fax: +44-1483-281-281 E-mail address: [email protected]