Current Trends in Project Management

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to review the available literature on the current trends in project management research. In order to do this, open source articles from Google Scholar were used. An attempt was made to select studies spanning several decades, from the 1950's to present to obtain an overview of how the field has evolved and how trends have developed. Using a set of criteria, approximately 600 scholarly works were initially analysed and then reduced to a smaller number which were explored in detail. Like other fields, project management research has grown and evolved over the decades. A dynamic and evolving field, it has gone through phases of emphasising strictly on certain aspects such as planning and control, to developing a holistic understanding of the subject. This has meant incorporating the various aspects of the project cycle into project management research. This indicates that research in this field has encompassed the several themes that may form a part of it. However, an underlying assumption in project management research is that project management itself stays the same across industries or sectors and despite the strides made in this field of research, there is scope to diversify and analyse its interconnection and influence on other disciplines as well.