Learning organization principles & project management

Technology projects are getting more numerous and more complex for nearly everyone. At the same time, our colleagues are becoming less accepting of older management models. This combination can be a formula for disaster or can be used as a springboard to initiate management changes and simultaneously do better in managing both single projects and entire slates of projects. At the University of Memphis under the leadership of Dr. James I. Penrod who was at that time the CIO, we began a concerted effort to create a cultural transformation of the information technology organization by using Peter Senge's learning organization principles. This article shows how these principles were applied to improving the way our division handled the management of technology projects on behalf of the University.