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The evolution of the project management 
 

Catalin Drob, Ph.D, University “Vasile Alecsandri” of Bacau, Romania 
 
 
Abstract 
 
Project management has appeared and developed based on scientific management theory 
during the '50s-'60s of the last century.  
After the 1990s of the last century, we can say that project management has truly become an 
independent discipline, which has a huge impact on the success or failure of companies which 
are engaged in major projects. 
 
Keywords 
 
Evolution, scientific management, project management. 
 
 
Throughout time, humanity has put in place many grandiose projects. The history of 
these projects started to be written since 2,500 years BC, with construction of the 
impressive Egyptian pyramids. However, the first projects that have implemented 
specific aspects of project management were conducted, much later, in the twentieth 
century, in the United States, along with the revolution of management theories. 
The roots of project management are related to the appearance and development of 
scientific management theory, whose promoters were: Frederick W. Taylor, Frank 
and Lillian Gilbreth, Henri Fayol and Henry Gantt. 
In 1911, saw the light of printing a reference work which founded this theory: “The 
Principles of Scientific Management” written by Frederick W. Taylor. In this paper, 
F.W. Taylor postulated the scientific management principles, which in his opinion, 
are1: 
- use of scientific methods of work; 
- scientific selection of employees and improving the skills of employees; 
- good cooperation with employees; 
- scientific division of labor in skilled and unskilled labor and its proper allocation 
between managers and workers. 
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth had an important contribution to developing scientific 
management, mainly in the field of industrial psychology. The best known work 
regarding with this area was written by Lillian Gilbreth and entitled "The Psychology 
of Management" published in 1912. 
In 1916, appeared another book that had a huge impact on management theory: 
“Administration Industrielle et Generale” (Industrial and General Administration), 
whose author was the French engineer Henri Fayol, regarded as the founder of 
classical management theories of organization. In this paper, H. Fayol has noted that 
the basic principles of management should consider2: 
- division of labor, which involves breaking down complex works into simpler and 
more consistent work and their allocation of specialized workers;  

                                                 
1 Turcu, O.L., Mironescu, R., Drob, C., Simionescu Gh., Feraru, A., Stan, A. (2008), 
Management, Ed. Alma Mater, Bacău, p. 15; 
2 Nica, P. (1994), Managementul firmei, Ed. Condor, Chişinău, p. 32. 

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- authority, which is viewed as the legitimate right to give orders;  
- discipline, which implies the respect of the intern rules;  
- unity of command, which means that each employee should receive orders from 
only one manager;  
- unity of direction, which means that the entire organization to have the same vision 
and direction to pursue common objectives using a single plane;  
- the subordination of individual interests to those of the organization;  
- remuneration, which must be properly determined according to performance of the 
workers;  
- centralization, which implies that power and authority are concentrated at the upper 
levels of the organization's management;  
- hierarchy, which involves establishing an adequate number of hierarchical levels, 
allowing for efficient movement of information both from the top to its base 
organization and vice versa;  
- order, which must be set up in the organization so that every employee and material 
object to have its place and to find there;  
- equity and fairness set up in relations between managers and his staff;  
- staff stability;  
- encouraging initiative;  
- development of team spirit. 
In the United States, the father of project management is considered Henry Gantt, 
who developed a technique of planning and control, called the Gantt chart that is 
currently used in the project management. 
Among major American projects, which considered the application of such principles 
of management, we can mention3: 
- construction of the giant dam on the Colorado River (1931-1936), named Hoover 
dam, in honor of the United States President, Herbert Hoover. This dam, which has 
201 meters thick at the bottom and has 221 meters in height, is still one of the most 
impressive hydro dams; 
- Manhattan Project (1942-1945), which led to the production of the atomic bomb and 
which have involved over 125,000 people etc. 
Starting from the core of the general management theory and from the need to apply 
the principles, methods and management specific techniques in the projects field, 
during the '50s and 60's, began to take shape a discipline in its own right, named 
Project Management. In the first part of this period, the application of project 
management in projects was limited mainly in use of the Gantt charts.  
The Gantt chart is the simplest and the most popular graphic method used for 
planning and control activities. This chart is actually a graphical representation of 
activities to be undertaken within a project, on the time scale. 
During '50-'60's of the last century, the development of large projects puts in the light 
the fact that the management methods and techniques used until that time were 
outdated and that the management theory and practice must be adapted to the specific 
of the projects. 
The specialized literature shows that the application for the first time of new methods 
and techniques of project management was undertaken in 1958, for the Polaris project 
of the U.S. Navy's, which involved designing and making of nuclear ballistic missile 
named "Polaris" that can be attached on submarines. Thus, within this project was 
designed and used a new technique for evaluation and analysis of the programs 
known as PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique), which is commonly 
used in current projects. 
This technique involves building a PERT chart type, which is a type of network graph 

                                                 
3 Drob, C. (2010), Management de proiect, Ed. Alma Mater, Bacău, p. 9. 

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that contains information about project activities, their duration, dependencies 
between them etc. PERT method is characterized by having regard to the risk and 
uncertainty, using probabilistic estimates for the duration of the activities. Pert 
method use three estimates to assess the duration of an activity: one optimistic, one 
pessimistic and one considered to be the most likely. 
Around the same time, in a joint venture company founded by DuPont and Remington 
Rand companies, was introduced for the first time, a specific method of project 
planning named critical path method, known as CPM. Critical Path is defined as the 
minimum duration of the project for which events on the critical path have no time 
reserve. 
In the late ‘60s of the last century, in 1969, in United States, was founded the first 
organization who proposed the promotion and development of the project 
management: Project Management Institute. 
'’70-‘90 period of the twentieth century was characterized by the expansion of the 
hardware and software technology, starting with the launch on the market of the first 
micro-computers and PCs. In the first part of this period were developed first 
specifics software for project management, later these becoming cheaper and more 
available. 
Thus, after creation of the Microsoft company in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen 
and starting with the development in computer technology were founded the first 
companies that proposed specific software for project management: Artemis (1977), 
Oracle (1977), Scythian Corporation (1979) etc. 
In 1983, was launched the Harvard Project Manager, considered one of the first 
integrated software specialized for project management. This program was able to 
make planning of tasks, budget and resources. Subsequently, on the market dedicated 
to the project management programs appeared and other companies that proposed 
various solutions for solving specific problems of project management. 
In 1998, in an article published in "Project Management Journal", was released a top 
of the most used software for project management. The Top 10 positions were 
occupied as follows4: 
1. Microsoft Project; 
2. Primavera Project Planner; 
3. Microsoft Excel; 
4. Project Workbench; 
5. Time Line; 
6. Primavera SureTrak; 
7. CA-SuperProject; 
8. Project Scheduler; 
9. Artemis Prestige; 
10. FasTracs. 
After 1995, starting with the widespread diffusion of the Internet, the software used 
for project management began offering the option to connect and work jointly in an 
intranet or Internet network. 
Today, the software for project management, are found in great diversity, both in 
terms of functions they develop and price that are sold on the market. 
In the late 90's of the last century, Project Management Institute has proposed a set of 
standards and practical guidance for this area, that are incorporated in a document 
known as PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge), which defines the 
fundament of management project for several fields, such as engineering, 
construction, IT and so on. 

                                                 
4 Drob, C., Macarie, F. (2007), Management de proiect, Ed. Alma Mater, Bacău, p. 57. 

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Project Management Institute describes the life cycle of a project through group 
processes, considering that, in fact, projects consist in a set of processes5. 
After the 1990s, we can say that project management has truly become an 
independent discipline, which has an impact that become more important in the 
success or failure of large companies. 
Once with awareness of benefits that may result from implementation of project 
management has increased the number of companies that apply the projects 
management in theirs projects we have developed its fields of application. 
According with Project Management Institute, in 2006, there were over 200,000 
people who have obtained certification recognized by this organization, after passing 
a rigorous exam based on PMBOK standard. The certificate granted by the Project 
Management Institute offers professional credibility in the project management field 
for its holders. 
If initially the project management has found application in the military and the 
construction field, at present, it has exceeded the boundaries of industrial, making his 
presence felt in the social or political area. 
 
Conclusion 
 
The appearance and development of the project management has occurred as a consequence of 
the need to adapt the theory and practice of management to the projects specific. In practice, the 
application of the tools and techniques of project management is facilitated by the use of 
specialized software for project management. 
 
 
References 
 
1. Drob, C. (2010), Management de proiect, Ed. Alma Mater, Bacău. 
2. Drob, C., Macarie, F. (2007), Management de proiect, Ed. Alma Mater, Bacău. 
3. Nica, P. (1994), Managementul firmei, Ed. Condor, Chişinău. 
4. Project Management Institute. (2008), A guide to the Project Management Body of  
Knowledge, Ediţia a patra, U.S.A. 
5. Turcu, O.L., Mironescu, R., Drob, C., Simionescu Gh., Feraru, A., Stan, A. (2008), 
Management, Ed. Alma Mater, Bacău. 
 
 
 
 

                                                 
5 Project Management Institute. (2008), A guide to the Project Management Body of  
Knowledge, Forth Edition, U.S.A., p. 37. 

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