Projects and their Management:A Literature Review

International Journal of Business and Management

August, 2008

Projects and Their Management: A Literature Review
Guru Prakash Prabhakar
Bristol Business School
University of the West of England
Coldharbour Lane, Frenchay Campus
Bristol- BS16 1QY, UK
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Abstract
Over the years and more importantly in the recent past projects have been used as a delivery mechanism to do business and accomplish objectives. No wonder it has become one of the fastest growing professions in the world.
Although the understanding of what constitutes a project and what doesn’t continues to be a topic of debate. This paper attempts to provide literature search on what is a project, its classification, characteristics, its life cycle, phases, tools etc.
Keywords: Projects, Project Management
Every one of us is a manager of projects! From a house wife to a production employee to financial analyst, from banker to physician, from engineer to administrator, from teacher to student, we all work on various tasks with deadlines. Regardless of our occupation, discipline, or location in an organization, we all work on tasks that are unique and involve people who do not usually work together. The project may have a simple objective that does not require many people or a great deal of money, or it may be quite complex, calling for diverse skills and many resources. But the bottom line is that every one of us manages projects!
1. What is a Project?
While there are several definitions of projects in the literature, one of the best has been offered by Tuman (1983), who states:
“A project is an organization of people dedicated to a specific purpose or objective. Projects generally involve large, expensive, unique, or high risk undertakings which have to be completed by a certain date, for a certain amount of money, with some expected level of performance. At a minimum, all projects need to have well defined objectives

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