Abstract
This paper reflects on the experience of a university research team working in collaboration with an emergency services agency undertaking significant organisational change. The team, from the Project Management and Economics Program at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) applied learning gained with other industry partners to support the New South Wales (NSW) Rural Fire Service in implementation of an innovative project management approach to meet its strategic reform agenda. Participation in this and other partnerships with government agencies, has led to reexamination of project management theory and practice by the research team.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Avison, D.E. and Myers, M.D. (1995). “Information systems and anthropology: an anthropological perspective on IT and organizational culture,” Information Technology & People, 8(3):43–56.
Bennetts, P.D.C, Wood-Harper, A.T. and Mills, S. (2000). “A holistic approach to the management of information systems development - a view using soft systems and multiple viewpoints,” Systemic Practice and Action Research, 13(2): 189–205.
Betts, M. and Lansley, P. (1995). “International Journal of Project Management: a review of the first ten years,” International Journal of Project Management, 13 (4):207–2I7.
Cabinet Office, UK. (2000). Successful IT: Modernising Government in Actionhttp://www.e-envoy.gov.uk/publications/reports_index.htm
Checkland, P. (2000). “The Emergent Properties of SSM in Use: A Symposium by Reflective Practitioners,” Systemic Practice and Action Research, l3(6):799–823.
Checkland, P. (1999). “Soft Systems Methodology: a 30-year retrospective,” in Soft Systems Methodology in Action, (P. Checkland, and J. Scholes, eds.). John Wiley and Sons,Chichester.
Checkland, P. and Howell, S. (1998). Information, systems and information systems - making sense of the field, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester.
Crawford, L. and Costello, K. (2000). “Towards a Transferable Methodology for Managing Strategic Change by Projects,” in IRNOP IV Conference - Paradoxes of Project Collaboration in the Global Economy: Interdependence, Complexity and Ambiguity, (L. Crawford, and C. F. Clarke, eds). University of Technology, Sydney, Sydney, Australia:
Dixon, M. (2000). APM Project Management Body of Knowledge, Fourth edition. Association for Project Management, Peterborough, England.
Gregory, W.J. and Midgley, G. (2000). “Planning for disaster: developing a multi-agency counselling service,” Journal of the Operational Research Society, 51(3):278–290.
Holwell, S. (2000). “Soft Systems Methodology: Other Voices,” Systemic Practice and Action Research, 13(6):773–798.
Laufer, A. and Hoffman, E. (2000). Project Management Success Stories: Lesson of Project Leaders, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Marsh, I. (1999). “Program Strategy and Coalition Building as Facets of New Public Management,” Australian Journal of Public Administration, 58(4):54–67.
Midgley, G. (1997). “Mixing Methods: Developing Systemic Intervention,” in Multimethodology:The Theory and Practice of Combining Management Science Methodologies, (J. Mingers and A. Gill, eds.). John Wiley and Sons, Chichester.
Neal, R.A. (1995). “Project definition: the soft-systems approach,” International Journal of Project Management, 13( 1 ):5–9.
Payne, J.H. and Turner, J.R. (1999). “Company-wide project management: the planning and control of programmes of projects of different type.” International Journal of Project Management, l7(l):55–59.
Project Management Institute (2000). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Project Management Institute, Newtown Square, PA.
Ragsdell, G. (2000). “Engineering a paradigm shift? An holistic approach to organisational change anagement,” Journal of Organizational Change Management, 13(2): 104–120.
Rodrigues, A. and Bowers, J. (1996). “The role of system dynamics in project management,”International Journal of Project Management, 14(4):213–220.
Stretton, A. (2000). “An Investigation of Connections Between Organisational Change and Project Management.” in IRNOP IV Conference - Paradoxes of Project Collaboration in the Global Economy: Interdependence, Complexity and Ambiguity, (L. Crawford and Crawford, L. and C. F. Clarke, eds.). UTS, Sydney, Australia.
Themistocleous, G. and Wearne, S.H. (2000). “Project management topic coverage in journals,”International Journal of Project Management, 18( 1 ):7–11.
Turner, J.R. and Cochrane, R.A. (1993). “Goals-and-methods matrix: coping with projects with ill defined goals and/or methods of achieving them,” International Journal of Project Management, 11(2): 93–101.
Yeo, K.T. (1993). “Systems thinking and project management - time to reunite,” International Journal of Project Management, 11(2): 111–117.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Costello, K., Crawford, L., Bentley, L., Pollack, J. (2002). Connecting Soft Systems Thinking with Project Management Practice: An Organizational Change Case Study. In: Ragsdell, G., West, D., Wilby, J. (eds) Systems Theory and Practice in the Knowledge Age. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0601-0_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0601-0_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5152-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0601-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive