Call for Papers for the 7th international workshop on critical studies of project based work, project management and the projectification of society and life at large
We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the 7th Making Projects Critical workshop, to be held at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in central Stockholm on January 23th-24th2014.
The workshop will be hosted by the Department of Industrial Economics and Management, KTH Royal Institute of
Technology, in cooperation with the Department of Business and Management, Faculty of Business and Law,
University of the West of England, and Manchester Business School, University of Manchester.
Background
'Making Projects Critical' is the title of series of international workshops intended to provide a forum for research from a wide range of critical perspectives relating to all aspects of projects, including project management, project based organising and the 'projectification' of society. Such critique finds inspiration in the writings of a range of authors, drawing, among others, on Labour Process Theory, Critical Theory, Actor Network Theory (and post-ANT), critical Environmentalism, Feminism, Post-Modernism, moral-philosophical pedagogy and other traditions broadly related to Critical Management Studies. Through the workshop, we hope to highlight and, where possible, remedy the theoretical and methodological limitations of traditional conceptions of projects and project management. In particular, the intention is to draw upon wider intellectual resources than the instrumental rationality, quantitative and positivist methodologies and technicist solutions which have been used traditionally to understand, implement and control organisational projects.
The first six workshops have resulted in a themed stream at the 2011 CMS Conference and have produced two
major publications:
• Making Projects Critical (2006), an edited volume with 16 chapters, eds. Hodgson, D.E. and Cicmil, S. Palgrave :Basingstoke, UK and New York, USA;
• ‘Project Management behind the Façade’, a special issue of ephemera: theory & politics with 7 contributions www.ephemeraweb.org/journal/9-2/9-2index.htm
Call for Papers
The broad range of themes addressed in past workshops include issues of power and domination in project settings, ethics and moral responsibility within projects, tensions between standardisation and creativity in project organisations, the limits to projectification and the dysfunctions of project rationality. Contributions on any of these themes or related critical topics drawing on pragmatic conceptualisations, empirical ethnography, narratology or concrete case studies, would be welcome.
A key concern of this workshop is to employ critical perspectives to analyse and evaluate the practice of project management and decision making as evidenced in the approval, governance and control of project work and project workers. We particularly welcome critical contributions which seek to bridge the gap between abstract theorising and the practice of project management. Such critique will be germane to those, such as project managers, who work closely and struggle with the demands of project-based organisation and who are trying to find more acceptable and participative/democratic ways of coping with their roles. We would like to encourage papers which address the widening range of sectors in which organisations and organising are increasingly structured around the project form by focusing on issues of context, values and power.
In addition to research in traditional project sectors (construction, engineering, IT), we would encourage submissions dealing with projects in the following fields:
• Consultancy and Consulting projects
• Organisational Change projects
• New Media projects
• New Product Development
• Entrepreneurial and Intrapreneurial processes
• International Development projects
• Urban Regeneration and Community Development projects
• Cultural/Creative Industry projects
• Innovation projects
• Event Management projects
• Research projects in both industry and academia
• Projects and project management in any other non-traditional sector
Contributions which adopt critical perspectives on the themes of temporality, complexity, phronesis, sustainability, the knowledge economy, professionalisation, pedagogy and education as related to the field of project management studies will also be of interest to conference participants.
Submission deadlines and selection process:
• Extended abstracts (2-3 pages including references) required by September 30th 2013 (EXTENDED DEADLINE)
• Notification of decision with feedback to authors by Oct 31st 2013
• Full paper submission by Dec 31st 2013
Please send all submissions via e-mail to mpc7@indek.kth.se with “MPC7 abstract” in the subject header. Extended abstracts will be reviewed by the organising committee members and the authors of selected abstracts will be invited to develop their papers for presentation in the workshop. Full and final papers should be between 20 and 25 pages, A4, 1.5 spacing, Arial 12 and written in English.
For details of previous MPC conferences, please visit;
www1.uwe.ac.uk/bl/bbs/research/bcloe/newsinshort/makingprojectscritical.aspx
For information and discussions on this and other MPC events, please see the “Making Projects Critical” LinkedIn group; www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=4002024&trk=anet_ug_grppro