Making Projects Critical 7: Deadline extension

[Alon Lischinsky]

(With apologies for cross-posting)

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Making Projects Critical 7
January 23–24 2014, Stockholm, Sweden

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 at 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
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