INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
PROJECT
International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 271–272
Editorial
Viennese Project Management Days-Project and Emotions
Every year, the Project Management Group of the
University of Economics and Business Administration
in Vienna, Austria, holds a project management event,
called the Project Management Days, during a week
between late October and early December. In 2003 it
was held in the last week of October. The week usually
consists of a research conference for researchers from
academia and industry, held on the Wednesday, a
practitioners conference for project management pro-
fessionals, held on Thursday and Friday, and seminars
for practicing project managers, held on Saturday. This
year there was also a workshop for educators and re-
searchers from universities to share experiences on
Tuesday.
Every year the weekÕs activities have a theme, and
in 2003 it was Projects and Emotions. Conventional
project management emphasizes the rational aspects,
such as the management of time and costs using
critical path analysis and earned value analysis. The
theme of the conference was that the emotional re-
sponse of the team and project stakeholders can have
a significant impact on the project and needs to be
managed.
1. Academic workshop, Tuesday 28 October 2003
On Tuesday, university professors from around the
world met to share their experiences of offering edu-
cation programmes (bachelors and masters degrees)
in project management, and of conducting academic
research. There were representatives from universities
in the United States of America, Canada, Australia,
Britain, Ireland, France, Norway, Sweden, Austria,
Romania and Russia, with about 20 people in total.
The professors present described the content of the
masters programmes they offered and the philoso-
phy behind the programme. They also described
their current research projects, and the philosophy
behind their research approach. It was interesting to
compare the similarities and differences from around
the world, particularly comparing the mature project
oriented societies from Western Europe and North
America and the transition economies from Eastern
Europe.
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2. Research conference, Wednesday 29 October 2003
On Wednesday, researchers from universities and
industry met for a research conference. There were 120
attendees. Highlights were papers by:
1. Professor Ali Jaafari of the University of Sydney,
Australia, on the human and behavioural challenges
facing project managers
2. Dr. Frank Anbari of George Washington University,
USA, and Dr. Maria Romanova of the State Univer-
sity of Management in Moscow, on cultural differ-
ences in managing international projects
3. Mrs. Andrea Cerny, of the University of Economics
and Business Administration Vienna on projects
and emotions
4. Myself on communication and cooperation on
projects
3. Practitioners conference, Thursday and Friday 30-31
October 2003
The practitioners conference, took place as usual on
Thursday and Friday, with the theme Projects and
Emotions. There were 240 attendees. Highlights were
papers by:
1. Professor Roland Gareis of the University of Eco-
nomics and Business Administration, Vienna, on
the challenges of emotions on projects
2. Dr. Martina Huemann, also of the University of Eco-
nomics and Business Administration, Vienna, and
Mr. Reg Hayes of the consultants CMG Logica in
the Netherlands, on emotions in project auditing,
and the impact on the audit process
3. Adesh Jain of the Centre of Excellence in Project
Management of India, on the challenges of creating
a project mindset
4. Mr. Josef Semier, of the Austrian Broadcasting Cor-
poration on crisis management in the reorganization
of Austrian television
4. Seminars, Saturday 1 November 2003
The week was rounded off by two day long seminars
for project managers. There were about 10–12 people at
each seminar. The seminar topics were:
272 Editorial / International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004) 271–272

2. Conducting project and programme audits, con-

ducted by Dr. Huemann and Mr. Hayes.
The Austrian Project Management Days are a suc-
cessful annual event, contributing to the development of
Austria as a project oriented society. The social events
and networking opportunities also contribute to the
development and cohesion of the global project man-
agement community. (Fig. 1)

J. Rodney Turner
Editor
Wildwood, Manor Close
East Horsley
Surrey KT24 6SA
Fig. 1. Attendees at the Academic Workshop, Tuesday. UK
Tel.: +44-1483-282-344
1. Programme and project portfolio management, con- fax: +44-1483-281-281
ducted by Professor Gareis E-mail address: rodneyturner@europrojex.co.uk