A bibliometric-qualitative study about the use of System Dynamics in the areas of Project and Program Management

Abstract

Despite the proliferation as well as great advances in the development of dynamic models applied to project management, research that applies system dynamics principles to program management does not seem to be as fertile. The objective of this paper is to obtain a more accurate vision of how the system dynamics theory is being used in the development of the program management field. The bibliometric-qualitative study confirms there is a robust use of system dynamics tools in the project management area, with a wide range of applications as well as solid results. The study, however, also shows that for programs, despite a noticeable increase regarding the interest in program management by organizations, clearly there is much less research uniting program management and system dynamics. More importantly, some dynamic models are being used to improve the performance of programs, however, few studies take into consideration the specific variables from program management. Thus, we conclude that current research on these two topics can only be viewed as fragmented and in its early stages, offering ample room for improvement.