The Practitioner’s Tapestry: Revealing the epistemological diversity to project management knowledge

Abstract

This case study investigates how the life experiences of a project manager has influenced their professional practice. The research methodology takes a phenomenological approach to an art therapy technique. We call it the Practitioner’s Tapestry, which comprise narrative with sketching sessions. The methodology revealed that close relationships with inspirational people in their formative years has influenced their practice, specifically in forming mental models that subsequently structures their behaviour towards others and their approach towards ‘doing things’. The results align with an important criticism about the epistemological and ontological assumptions of the various project management bodies of knowledge, as mental models and the tacit knowledge they develop do rightly constitute project management knowledge for dealing with the actuality of project work