Operations management or project management? The call for new project managers for operations services

Abstract

Current project management practices provide incomplete answers to todaypsilas challenges in operations services management. Project management has its roots in research and development projects, ramping-up and optimization of production processes, and the delivery of turnkey infrastructure projects. These traditional roles have been sufficiently investigated by academia and practitioners, and methodological frameworks are available. However, the arena of long-term and ongoing operations services poses new challenges. From empirical studies involving many ldquomanaged servicesrdquo, or outsourcing, operations projects in the telecommunications industry, this paper deducts fundamental differences between the definition of a project and classical project management requirements, and an operation with its new operation management needs. We then discuss the critical success factors for operations management, and propose several measures to translate these findings into organizational changes. We finally conclude that operations services projects require a different kind of management than traditional project management, and propose a framework for a more efficient operations management.