Projects as difference – towards a next practice of complex project management

“Projects fail on the people side”, may be a quote to highlight the background and the case for action of our approach. We should be able to improve project management performance, if it was possible to find ways to refer to and manage this “people side ” of projects. Our aim is to share some theoretical insights that helped us improving the practical performance of project management in the context of international development aid. The most adequate theoretical approach to understand the “people side ” of projects and to deal with not only social complexity but with complexity as such seems to be Niklas Luhmanns Theorie of Social Systems. It provides theoretical inside that allows deriving methods of systemic reflection based on distinction theory rather than on concepts of unity. Doing so leads to substantial improvements in managing projects. And this refers not only to the inner social complexity of projects, but to the outer social complexity of organisations, institutions and societies. We do not want to over-generalise our results. What is applicable to the project management in the area of development aid might not be transferable to commercial endeavours. This should at least put to further examination. Our conclusion, however, is that referring to Niklas Luhmanns Theorie of Social Systems as a basis of further development of models, methods and instruments which are able to cope with the systemic complexities and dynamics of social systems provides a promising path to venture towards a next practice of project management