Technology versus Human Innovation in Project Management
Project management underscores the need and presence for various aspects to be incorporated in the entire process. The ability to personalize and innovate the processes is central to project management, and while technology is seen to be highly effective, it lacks in the ability to innovate at least as frequently as required by the process (Edwards, 2001). On the other hand, the use or application of human innovation, which shows a lot of dynamism and creativity, might fail in the application of high levels of efficiency that are seen in the application of technology. The real question becomes whether it is possible and acceptable to ensure that innovation and creativity present in the human innovation approach is better and can be employed at the expense of efficiency.
Literature Review
The role and presence of technology in project management are irrefutable as more processes are becoming mechanized and tailored to include aspects of technology. However, in questioning the role that technology plays, Taylor, Casto, and Walls (2007) point out that education, among other processes, have been going on without any technology in the past with positive results. Bess (2010) also scrutinizes the presence of humans and their competition that are enhanced through technology and how these compare. This is also done by Knott, Steube and Yang (2013) from a sustainability angle. Hikmet, Bhattacherjee, Menachemi, Kayhan, and Brooks (2008) apply the difference between technology and human roles in a scrutiny of a healthcare project or industry.
The role of technology is also scrutinized in terms of acquisition of technology as opposed to the application of the same. Li, and colleagues (2007) compare between the people who have been raised up in a region and those who have come in from different regions having acquired different technological expertise. The idea shows that the input of technology is greater than most people realize even in the backdrop of the fact that some people may have more localized knowledge of processes. Launius and McCurdy (2007) also look at the same approach with consideration to the suggestion that robots should replace humans in the execution of space projects.
The type of project can also dictate and influence the decision of whether technology is better placed to perform some tasks over human innovation. This is the idea underscoring the argument in Launius and McCurdy (2007) and it is the idea as explained by Haff (2014). In the education or manufacturing scene, there are responsibilities that are strictly left for technology while others are not suitable for technology. Under the same tenet, it emerges that there are industries that are fit for technology while others are not………………………………………………..
