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Running head: THE INTEGRATION OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

BUSI 859 Project Management

MBA (IB11)

Article Critique: The integration of project management and organizational change

management is now a necessity

Ankita Moore

St. George’s University

June 30th, 2019

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Hornstein, Henry A. (2014, September 8th). The integration of project management and

organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project

Management, 33 (2015) 291–298

Introduction

Charles Kettering once said, “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has

brought progress” (Top Right Partners, 2019). His statement can be proven true as many

organizations are now looking to integrate project management and organizational change

management as it is more eminent today than ever before. In contrary to what the Project

Management Institute (PMI) advocates, the processes of project management must consider how

it hopes to engage employees from the start. That way, employees will come to align themselves

with the initiative of the project from start to finish, instead of feeling like they are being told to

do something without understanding why it is being done.

https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/the-need-to-integrate-project-management-and-

organizational-change/

Hence, the author sort to suggest that project management consist of the process and

training of new project management teams and likewise, leaders who should take into account

the impact of organizational change (Hornsein, 2015). Based on Hornstein explanation, he

commented and explained the processes that involves project management as well as what is

included in the training of new project managers who will have a positive or negative impact on

the organizational performance of any company.

For this reason, he states that such processes and pieces of trainings should be checked

regularly and regulated for they can have devastating effects on performance of both the
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management and junior staff. The author succeeds in giving out his information by reviewing

supportive literature. Hence, the literature in the article emphasizes project managers should

understand and become conversant with the organization change management (OCM). Such

information and knowledge will be useful in my future WA4 in understanding that performances

and changes in the management operations can have both positive and negative impacts on the

performance of an organization.

Organizational Project Management (OPM) is the framework that is used to align project,

portfolio and program management practices with the initiative of achieving organizational

strategy and objectives; thus, customizing or fitting these practices within the organization’s

situation, context or structure, whilst contributing to the achievement of strategic objectives

(Project Management Institute, 2018). Organizational Project Management has also been

described as an integration of project related work handled throughout organizational hierarchy

which involves an element of organizational change. Based on Henry Hornstein (2015), he

commented that “change is an inevitable consequence of project implementations, and how the

change is ‘manage’ will impact how successful the project will be.

It has also been described as an integration of project-related work throughout the

hierarchy of an organization (Drouin et al, 2016). It can be argued that all projects involve an

element of organizational change, as the larger organization expands and contracts around an

internal temporary project organization. For example, Hornstein (2015) commented that “…

change is an inevitable consequence of project implementations, and how the change is

‘managed’ impacts how successful the project will be” (p. 295). Söderlund (2010) identified that

there are an increasing number of business projects that involve some element of change.

Change is a fundamental part of organizational project management, and although in some cases
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the products of a project may be effectively distinct from the delivering organization, this is

rarely the case in organizational project management.

Both project management and change management have a role to play in the management

and delivery of organizational changes. Many authors have identified the potential ways in which

these two management disciplines can potentially collaborate to deliver organizational changes

(Leybourne, 2006; Boddy & Macbeth, 2000; Levasseur, 2010; Pádár et al, 2011; Winch et al,

2012; PMI, 2013a). Parker et al. (2013) have stated that using a project based approach is a

business imperative, as it increases the chances for the success of organizational changes, while

Hornstein (2015) has made a case for change management to be a fundamental part of the

training of project managers, commenting that “… they are complementary and mutually

supportive disciplines that contribute to the successful implementation of a wide variety of

projects” (p. 295). It has also been identified that “Rigorous change management practices are

essential for a standardized organizational project management practice…” (PMI, 2013a, p. 1).

This suggests some need to integrate these approaches.

Project Management and change management are considered as discrete

management approaches, which require specific roles, specific methods and terminologies.

While differentiation between these approaches provides clear structures and alignment; on the

other hand, the practical application of project management and change management calls for

these approaches to be amalgamated at an organizational level as well as at an individual level

contributes to the management quality.

The specific aims of this paper would be to present the research questions, research

methodology, and the early finding from focus-group workshop that was conducted June 2014.

As a result, to demonstrate the benefits of integrating/aligning project management and change

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management approaches. Explore the role of the PMO if an integration management model

applies.

The author suggests that project management processes and training of new project

leaders and managers should consider the impact of organizational change. Therefore, Henry

goes ahead to explain that processes of project management including training of new project

managers have either positive or negative impacts on organizational performance.

Change in the end

It all leads to one conclusion. Change is never done alone. It takes the interactivity of

every aspect of an organization (leaders, individual contributors, tools) to make change

management successful. Gone are the days of five-year plans. Today’s speed of business

requires an agile organization who can change even as frequently as 12 – 18 months. Having a

comprehensive and thorough management of change process is the only way businesses can

survive … and flourish.

And remember that friend who asked about the investment return from the beginning of

our series? After reading each blog piece and taking the time to process each area’s

responsibility toward the success of change, you can now tell your friend that the initial

investment may indeed be huge, but because you have been given the necessary information for

effective change management, we will ALL be able to prove enormous returns!

https://www.fullsailpartners.com/fspblog/page/26
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Reference

Project Management Institute (PMI). (2018). The Standard for Organizational Project

Management. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-

standards/foundational/organizational-project-management

PMI. (2019). Integrated change management. Retrieved from

https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/integrated-change-management-5954

Global PMO. (2019). Integration of change management project management. Retrieved from

https://globalpmosolutions.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/integration-of-change-

management-project-management.pdf

Top Right Partner. (2019). Transformational Quotes on Change Management. Retrieved from

https://toprightpartners.com/insights/20-transformational-quotes-on-change-management/