Project management: The seesaw balance between control and cooperation

Increasingly, more companies are adopting project management practices to remain competitive. The predominant emphasis in the literature and the Project Management Body of Knowledge® Guide has been on tools, techniques, and methodologies - the technical and tangible resources. There has been a lack of emphasis on the cooperation practices based on socio cultural aspects of projects, such as interpersonal skills, communities of practice, and social exchange practices. This paper introduces readers to a resource categorization framework whereby resources can be grouped within a two by two matrix. By classifying project resources with this framework and by examining both the control and cooperation practices, we posit that the control practices are useful in achieving operational efficiencies and effectiveness. However, more emphasis on the intangible project management resources (involving cooperation practices) is required so that project practices are unique, embedded in the ways of work, and difficult for rival companies to imitate. Copyright, American Society for Engineering Management, 2012.