Analogy between Modern Project Management Theories and Sunzi’s Art of War: Chapters 5 and Beyond

This article extends prior research on Chapters 1–4 of Sunzi’s Art of War (“Sunzi” for short in this abstract) to its Chapters 5–13, analyzing the analogy between modern project management theories and Sunzi by means of comparing and contrasting them and pinpointing the similarities and dissimilarities between them. In particular, the article identifies both traditional and recent literature, academic or industrial, on modern project management theories in order to discern similarities and dissimilarities. The analysis reveals that considerable themes from Sunzi are not only upheld in modern project management theories but also remain prominent research topics, as evidenced by the literature cited. These themes include the decisiveness of communication, the tactical use of decoys and deception, project team burnout as a contributor to project failure, preparedness as a foundation for project success, management commitment, information management, project team morale, cost-benefit analysis, the balanced application of enabling versus coercive control, leniency versus sternness, and informal versus formal control, as well as the strategic value of surprise and desperation for achieving victory. This article employs inductive reasoning, based on argumentation, rather than a hypothetico-deductive methodology involving theoretical frameworks and hypothesis testing.