The Chimpanzees’ Tea Party: A New Metaphor for Project Managers
- 1 September 2003
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Information Technology
- Vol. 18 (3), 151-158
- https://doi.org/10.1080/0268396032000122123
Abstract
This paper addresses the problem of information technology systems failure. It is argued that conventional approaches to project management assume that success depends upon imposing control. This paper invokes a novel metaphor, namely the chimpanzees’ tea party, for highlighting the limits of this assumption and showing how control-based approaches to project management can be counterproductive. Paradoxically, situations may arise where projects can be more effectively controlled by not attempting to impose control. Mind is the forerunner of everything. Mind is sovereign. All things are generated by mind. (Dhamnapadi, verse 1)Keywords
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