The unsettling of “settled science:” The past and future of the management of projects

As part of the development of his Management of Projects (MoP) perspective, Peter Morris identified a broader, more comprehensive understanding of the principal project management activities and interfaces required for project success. In advancing the MoP framework, Morris offered a wide-ranging critique of the philosophy behind PMI's execution-based model, as developed through their body of knowledge (PMBoK). This paper addresses some of the streams of research that have been influenced by the MoP perspective and how they have “unsettled” research focused on tools and techniques, and normative best practice which we dub the “settled science” of project management. We suggest that it is time to reconsider these research streams in light of Morris' MoP framework, identifying some of the key areas that future research can pursue in reassessing what we think we know about project-based research and key project interfaces.