Project management is a specialized branch of management which has evolved in order to co-ordinate and control some of the complex activities of modern industry. It is not, of course, an isolated example of a management skill acquired as a result of the challenge presented by industrial development and expansion. Indeed the phenomenon of survival through specialization hardly originated in the world of industry and commerce.
Once of the fundamental and most familiar aspects of everyday life is the growth of living things. This growth can be observed in a single plant, in a baby animal, or, more widely, in a whole colony or population. Sooner or later development must depend upon the supply of natural resources in quantities sufficient to support the demands of the population. Competition for available food, water and shelter must intensify as more mouths or roots require feeding. The effects of climate and predators add other elements of risk. In the course of time only those organisms which are able to adapt themselves will manage to prosper. The rule of 'survival of the fittest' will reign, resulting in the evolution of life forms which grow more and more specialized as time proceeds.
The world of industry suggests close parallels with the world of nature when the effects of growth and evolution are compared. Continuous expansion of firms within a generally expanding economy will create more demand for all the available resources. Evolutionary processes must occur as companies adapt themselves to meet the challenges presented by their continually changing economic climate. Some firms will emerge as more successful than others, whilst others which cannot adapt in time will be unable to survive at all.
Current trends in the greater use of electronic computers for data processing and machine control, the increase in size of many civil engineering projects, complex weapon systems for defense and the establishment of better communication and transport links all require the participation of large contractors. Smaller firms either are unable to tender for large projects or must be content to accept a small slice of the cake as relatively unimportant subcontractors to their biggest brothers. Many small companies may in fact depend directly upon larger firms for their very existence.
Any firm which does not, for any reason, maintain a rate of growth which is at least in step with the current rate of industrial expansion will, in all probability, not merely stagnate but either fail altogether or be swallowed up by one of its powerful rivals. Companies which remain too small may suffer from relatively high production costs, owing to the small volume of work which can be undertaken and the limited amount of capital available for investment in modern tooling, plant and machinery. There will also be a restriction in the size of individual projects open to the smaller firm because the resources which it can muster will be limited.
Thus, companies must expand at the rate of industrial expansion to have any hope of survival in today's competitive business world. Without proper project management, such successful expansion is practically impossible.
