Proceedings of the 28th Annual Hawaii international Conference on System Sciences - 1995 Managing Technology Projects: A Contingent Exploratory Approach Aaron J. Shenhar(*) and Dov Dvir (**) (*) University of Minnesota, (**) Tel-Aviv University Abstract Based on an exploratory, on-going field study we suggest in this paper a conceptual, two dimensional framework for the classification of projects and systems, and show how this framework can be used to distinguish among management styles and practices for various types of engineering projects. The paper provides empirical evidence of the differences found among various kinds of projects and suggests a contingent systems approach to project management. According to this approach, in order to improve their probability of success, projects must be classified before initiation and properly adapt their management style and managerial tools. Introduction The creation of man-made systems has probably its historical roots in early civilization. Today, with the development of management theory such creations are often linked to modern concepts of project management; however, the concept is quite new and probably not well understood. At this time most research literature on the management of projects and on the creation of systems and products is relatively young and still suffers from a scanty theoretical basis. For example, very few systematic studies have distinguished between the project type and its strategic, as well as managerial problems; yet, in practice there are great differences among projects. Consider the case of constructing a new building, as compared to the development of a new space vehicle. Naturally, both efforts are called projects and both employ some project management practices, however, their differences outweigh their resemblance. Nevertheless, most management books and studies tend to assume that all projects consist of a universal set of functions and activities. We have been studying project management for the last four years, with an attempt to explore their conceptual foundation, investigate the differences among projects, and identify contingencies in the processes of product creation. Our proposition is that project management differs with the specific kind of project and that management attitudes and practices must be adapted to the project type. The methodology we use is based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, encompassing the process of building theory from case study research [5] and traditional statistical data collection through structured questionnaires. Following some background discussion we suggest a conceptual, two dimensional typology for the classification of engineering projects. In our framework, projects are classified according to their technological uncertainty at the moment of project initiation, and system scope which is their location on a hierarchical ladder of systems and subsystems. As our findings show, there are substantial differences among projects when moving along either one of the model’s two axes. Background A traditional categorization of innovation as either incremental or radical has often been mentioned in the literature of technical innovation [12], [4]. Because the very natures of these two types of innovations differ, researchers have often adapted a contingent approach, suggesting that the organization which performs the more innovative task should be different from the organization developing the more routine product (e.g. [l]). The traditional contingent approach was based on two extreme types of organizations: A mechanistic organization, which is formal, centralized, specialized, and bureaucratic, and an organic organization, which is informal, decentralized, having just a few authority levels, and having a breadth view (rather than a specialized one). According to the classical theorists, organic 1060-3425/95$4.OOQ1995IEEE 494 Proceedings of the 28th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS '95) 1060-3425/95 $10.00 © 1995 IEEE