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MAKING PROJECTS CRITICAL: BEYOND PROJECT RATIONALITY


MANCHESTER, DECEMBER 11-12, 2006
CHAIRPERSONS

Svetlana Cicmil
University of the West of England

Damian Hodgson
Manchester Business School, University of Manchester

Monica Lindgren
School of Industrial Engineering & Management, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

Johann Packendorff
School of Industrial Engineering & Management, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

INVITED SPEAKERS

Prof. Alf Rehn
Abo Akademi, Finland

Prof. Andrew Sturdy
University of Warwick, UK

"Learning from projects? Project working and project management in management consultancy"

WORKSHOP PROGRAM

CLICK HERE for the Workshop Program.

LIST OF ACCEPTED PAPERS & AUTHORS

CLICK HERE for a list of all the Accepted Papers & Authors.

CALL FOR PAPERS

'Making Projects Critical' is the title of series of workshops intended to bring together a range of non-traditional perspectives on all aspects of projects, including project management, project based organising and the 'projectification' of society.
This workshop is intended to provide a forum for research which applies critical perspectives to understand the implications of project management and project organisations for the contemporary workplace and for society more broadly.
Through the workshop, we hope to both highlight and break down the theoretical and methodological limitations of traditional conceptions of projects.
In particular, the intention is to draw upon wider intellectual resources than the technicist solutions, quantitative and positivist methodologies and instrumental rationality which have been traditionally brought to bear in attempts to understand and control the project form of organising.
Among the broad range of themes addressed in past workshops, issues of power and domination, control and resistance, autonomy and surveillance and related themes figure strongly.
Papers presented at these workshops will be published in a forthcoming edited collection entitled “Making Projects Critical’ (Hodgson and Cicmil, 2006).
A particular theme of this workshop is an understanding of the limits and limitations of projects and the project form of organising. Projects are typically taken-for-granted and rarely questioned, despite the absence of any evidence that they are generally more effective than other forms of work organisation. Do they harm more than they help, and do they destroy more than they contribute? Is the project form the solution to all the problems and tasks where it is applied? What societal structures does project thinking foster and sustain? And what will come after the current era of ‘project hegemony'?

Issues to be addressed in the workshop will include:

- The hegemony of project discourse across industries and societies
- Excess in projects and projectification
- Projects as a modernist or post-modernist idea?
- Projects versus other forms of organizing
- Project-based organizations and the obsolescence of the project ideal
- Projects as a managerial fad
- The use and misuse of the project form
- Critical project research and the practitioner
- Bureaucracy-based change and project-based status quo
- Project organizing as fostering and sustaining inequalities and power structures
- Project management: losing, regaining or strengthening its legitimacy?
- Challenges to the omnipotence of the project manager
- Project versus corporate leadership practices and ideals
- Success, failure and ambivalence in project evaluation
- Projects and the ongoing construction of gender structures
- Project-based organizing and Human Resource Management
- Projects and the failings of Knowledge Management
- Management accounting regimes and project management
- Critical understandings of the project-based economy
- Critical methodologies for the research of projects

This list is far from exhaustive, however, and we would welcome any papers which approach the theme of projects, broadly defined, from a critical perspective.

The workshop will be supported by the Centre for Research in the Management of Projects (CRMP) at Manchester Business School.
http://www.mbs.ac.uk/research/centres/management-projects/index.htm

Information on previous workshops can be found at;
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/bbs/research/research/mpc/index.shtml

DEADLINES:

NEW Deadline for Extended Abstracts: September 15, 2006
Notification of acceptance: October 1, 2006
Deadline for Full Papers: November 27, 2006
Registration by participants: December 6, 2006  

Selection will be made on the basis of Extended Abstracts (2-3 pages)

Full & Final papers should be 20-25 pages, A4, 1.5 spacing, Times New Roman 12 & in ENGLISH.

PRACTICALITIES

***REGISTRATIONS must be made by 6 December 2006***

The workshop will take place at the MANCHESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL in the UK:

Manchester Business School,
Booth Street West,
Manchester,
M15 6PB, UK
+44 (0) 161 275 6303

The workshop will be in MBS Harold Hankins Building, in room 10.04
(otherwise known as the 10th Floor Conference Suite)

To reach the Harold Hankins building :Look out for a pedestrian bridge over Oxford Road
(the main road from the city centre and train stations) which is has 'University of Manchester' written on it.

The Harold Hankins building is through the first floor shopping precinct on the same side of the road as Blackwells.
Enter the Precinct Centre via the escalator or the ramp on Oxford Road.
Go through the precinct and go past Delta Travel on your left and NatWest on your right.
The entrance to Harold Hankins is opposite the Legal Advice Centre.

There will be signs directing you to the workshop.
Please note that there are two 10th floor conference suites.
The porters on the reception desk should be able to help you

http://www.mbs.ac.uk/about-us/mbs-hankins.htm

HOW TO GET THERE: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/visitors/travel/air/

MAP of AREA & HOTELS (Please right click and choose 'Save As')


ACCOMODATION:

Click HERE for some Hotel Suggestions.

Else you can check out the following tourist websites:

http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/hotels.html
http://www.aboutbritain.com/ManchesterHotels.asp
http://www.visitmanchester.com/

The fees include the participants pack (Badge, Program, Certificate of Attendance, Receipt of payment, Calendar of activities), and all catering (breaks, lunches and workshop dinner).

IMPORTANT NOTES:

**Please inform the
workshop organiser of any dietary requirements at least 1 week in advance BY 5TH DECEMBER!!

The workshop dinner shall be held in CHRISTIE'S BISTRO located in the
Christie Building, Old Quadrangle, University of Manchester
 
**If you will arrive late for registration or will NOT attend the workshop dinner, please inform also.    

               Fees will be posted shortly

Cancellations made before November 27, 2006 will be reimbursed minus 20% of the total fee. No reimbursement will be possible after that date.

Payments should be made by :

  • The following credit cards: Visa or Eurocard/Mastercard/Access

DOWNLOAD LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

DOWNLOAD ACCEPTED PAPERS

ADMINISTRATION

Ms. Audrey O'Connor - EIASM Conference Manager
EIASM - RUE FOSSÉ AUX LOUPS - 38 - BOX 3 - 1000 BRUSSELS - BELGIUM
Tel: - Fax:
Email: info@eiasm.be