Turner, Aidan (2022) Detecting the early essence of 'modern' project management: An historic case study approach (hms barham, 1912-1915). PhD thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
Abstract
This thesis investigates the management methods and tools and techniques used in the delivery of what we would today call a major project, but one which was completed some 50 years before Project Management was recognised as a management discipline. The research takes a case study approach and researches, from a project management perspective, the management records and artefacts found relating to John Brown and Sons construction of HMS Barham, one of the Queen Elizabeth Dreadnoughts built between 1912 and 1915. It considers the means by which one of the central UK shipbuilders of WWI was able to meet the country's need for battleships and contrasts this with the approaches used today by Modern Project Management. The purposes of these artefacts, from a project management perspective, are tested with today's project managers in order to gain independent and expert confirmation of their function. Through this approach, the study sheds light on the understanding of Project Management from an earlier time than has been previously recorded to this degree of granularity. It helps to answer calls in recent academic articles for the more detailed study of project management histories that can add value to future studies, seeking to develop the study of project management, either from a practical or theoretical standpoint. The study shows in detail the documents used and hence the functions carried out during what we would today refer to as a project's lifecycle. In addition, the study directly addresses and answers questions raised by the call for more research into project management history and establishes that it is indeed possible to research projects at this level of granularity, which the study establishes had not been done previously to this level of detail. The primary outcome of the research is to provide a better understanding of the practices and techniques of early projects, with its associated benefits for those developing project management theories and to provide a systematic exploration of an historical project, enabling current research to be better informed by knowledge of past practice and past empirical explorations.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Index terms: | major project, project manager, case study, future study, project management, lifecycle, level of detail, history, exploration, management method, artefact, documents |
| Subjects: | environmental resource management, strategic project management, technical documentation, project delivery, architectural and construction history, research design and methodology, data collection methods, profession, sociology, management, professional development, project management theory and practice |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Information Management, Roles and Professions, Project Management, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here