A typology of meanings: practitioners views of ‘program'
Article
McGrath, Stephen Keith and Whitty, Stephen Jonathan. 2019. "A typology of meanings: practitioners views of ‘program'." Journal of Modern Project Management. 7 (2), pp. 228-245. https://doi.org/10.19255/JMPM02011
| Article Title | A typology of meanings: practitioners views of ‘program' |
|---|---|
| ERA Journal ID | 210937 |
| Article Category | Article |
| Authors | McGrath, Stephen Keith (Author) and Whitty, Stephen Jonathan (Author) |
| Journal Title | Journal of Modern Project Management |
| Journal Citation | 7 (2), pp. 228-245 |
| Number of Pages | 18 |
| Year | 2019 |
| Publisher | Editora Mundo |
| Place of Publication | Brazil |
| ISSN | 2317-3963 |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.19255/JMPM02011 |
| Web Address (URL) | https://www.journalmodernpm.com/index.php/jmpm/article/view/439 |
| Abstract | Previously published work has identified confusion in the definition of the term program. This paper reports on a study investigating the understanding of program terminology within a sample of experienced management and project management practitioners across a range of industries and disciplines. The study was conducted in Australia which is subject to influence by both USA and British practice, without being constrained to favor either, but where any inconsistencies between these influences are potentially problematic. The outcome was that confusion on this issue was found within the practitioner community. Furthermore, this confusion had developed into a competition between fields over exclusive usage of the term to the extent that one organization had even attempted to resolve it by attributing different meanings to the two different nationality spellings of the term. No common understanding or definition of the term was articulated and there was contention over whether a program has to be transformational to be labelled as such. The boundaries with the terms project and portfolio were also unclear. The existence of these inconsistencies indicates there is a need for an internally consistent set of definitions of project, program, and portfolio to be agreed and adopted across the whole project management field. |
| Keywords | program management, programme management, project management, transformation, benefits realisation, change management |
| ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 350711. Organisational planning and management |
| Public Notes | File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author. |
| Byline Affiliations | School of Management and Enterprise |
| Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
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