The Project Management Institute (Atlanta Chapter) has awarded the College of Lifetime Learning's project management team a $10,000 research grant to study popular industry methodologies and tools, and develop updated curricula.
The Atlanta chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) has awarded the College of Lifetime Learning's project management teams a $10,000 research grant.
The grant will fund research — led by Chris Carter, professor of the practice and academic program director of project management, Sarv Kohli, project management instructor and research lead, and Willy Barnett, project management instructor and general manager for innovation research & strategy at Delta Air Lines — exploring project management trends across IT, manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and supply chain logistics.
"We teach the certificate programs and we offer the credit-bearing courses, but this research is a wholly different side of our work," Carter explained. "The output of this research should give birth to new and updated curricula based on our learning about the industry and how and what we're currently teaching."
In addition to researching project management (PM) trends across industries, the research team looks to define project management as a "value delivery system" and innovation management (IM) as a "value creation system." They will do this by answering three questions:
- Which industries use project management systematically to deliver value — and how?
- Which project management methodologies (Waterfall, Agile, Hybrid, and/or Product Management) deliver the most value in today’s environment — and why?
- Which project management tools or software applications best support value delivery?
"We're trying to help people see project management as an academic field of study, just like you see engineering or computing, because it's evolving beyond a ‘machine for change’ and into a value delivery system that drives measurable business outcomes, innovation, and strategic impact," said Carter.
Official research findings will provide valuable insight into the future of the project management profession, be published to support project managers worldwide, and inform PM curricula at Georgia Tech.
The College currently supports the demand for project managers by offering several credit-bearing and certificate courses that help learners build practical skills they can immediately apply in the workplace while preparing for industry-recognized certifications.
Author: Kat Bell