Project portfolio approaches consider various concurrent project interdependencies but typically neglect longitudinal interdependencies. These are important for exploratory projects, which create ...strategic options. If these options are not exploited in successive projects they become lost opportunities. This study analyzes 138 firms regarding their extent to consciously manage project sequences. We differentiate between proactive lineage (planning a roadmap of future projects) and reactive lineage (using learnings from past projects). Results show that both practices are positively and independently related to portfolio success. We derive suggestions for future research and discuss which theoretical foundations could be used to better understand the impact of lineage management.
Construction project complexity can be daunting, so both academics and practitioners have been looking for guidance. Previous studies have attempted to reconcile the inconsistencies and complexities ...in the relationships among project complexity, project success, and project management success. However, such research has failed to establish these clear relationships. Accordingly, the approach of systematic review and meta-analysis is applied in this study to investigate and compare how different project complexity affects project success and project management success by selecting 22 articles and 77 effect sizes. The results indicate that integrational complexity significantly positively affects project success, whereas it is not significantly negatively associated with project management success. Within a technical-organizational-environmental (TOE) framework, effects of organizational, environmental, and technical complexity on project success and project management success are also discussed here. A possible moderator (the national/regional income level) is tested and verified. The findings contribute to the system of knowledge on project complexity and provide guidelines for decision-makers to achieve a balance between project success and project management success in routine operation of construction projects.
Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and Lean Project Delivery (LPD) are innovative approaches that are capturing the attention of the construction industry. However, there is a confusion about the ...definitions of these approaches and how they integrate a project delivery process. This confusion negatively affects the learning process, which could create a barrier to advancing them. Based on a structured literature review and two case illustrations, this study aims to clarify the similarities and differences between IPD and LPD. This paper presents a comparative analysis of these approaches through a structured analysis of the project organizations, contractual relationships, and operational systems. The results showed that the operational system is perhaps the most relevant difference between these approaches for their definition as a project delivery system. The core of both approaches is to encourage the use of integrated project organizations, relational contracting, and integrated process as mechanisms to integrate a project delivery system.
•IPD and LPD systems have the same perspective with regards to project organization.•The nature of IPD and LPD agreements is relational.•The main difference between IPD and LPD delivery systems stems from the operational system.
Applying institutional theories to managing megaprojects Biesenthal, Christopher; Clegg, Stewart; Mahalingam, Ashwin ...
International journal of project management,
January 2018, 2018-01-00, Volume:
36, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This paper contributes to Rodney Turner's initiative to develop a theory of project management from practice. Organizational scholars studying strategy suggest that more attention needs to be paid to ...practices involved in organizing, as well as the institutional contexts in which these practices are embedded. Taking a cue from strategy-in-practice approaches, it is proposed that institutional theories can be used to address some questions that have not been answered adequately regarding megaprojects. Institutional theories also seem to be gaining the attention of scholars investigating large, global, infrastructure projects as reported in engineering, management and construction journals. Increasingly, it is evident that the problem areas attached to these projects stretch beyond technical issues: they must be considered as socio-technical endeavours embedded in complex institutional frames. The authors suggest that studying how to deal with institutional differences in the environment of megaprojects has both theoretical and practical implications.
•Rodney Turner wanted PM researchers to develop a theory of project management from practice.•Megaprojects require careful consideration of institutional arrangements in practice•Institutional theory as a useful lens to view megaprojects.•Ways to carry out research in megaprojects using institutional theory.•A research agenda for megaprojects.
There is a trend of combining agile and traditional project management practices for technology-based product and service development in the search for more agility. Although there are, in the ...literature, hybrid models that propose combinations of traditional and agile approaches, there are no studies that discuss the impact of the adoption of this approach in organizations in practice. Consequently, guidance on the selection of the most appropriate project management approach has remained largely theoretical, rather than based on companies’ experiences. The objective of this research is to analyze how organizations that develop technology-based products and services apply hybrid approaches to project management, their characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages, conducting a literature review and multiple case studies as research methods. Results reveal that hybrid approaches to project management are currently fundamental for companies in order to deal with distinct organizational cultures, specific processes, customer contractual requirements, and project specificities. This study also led to a consolidated list of the characteristics of hybrid approaches to project management.
The number of complex projects is increasing across many sectors and the associated challenges are substantial. Using a field study we aim to understand how project managers' emotional intelligence ...(EI) contributes to project success. We propose and test a model linking EI to project success and examine the mediating effects of project managers' job satisfaction and trust on this relationship. Based on data collected from 373 project managers in the Australian defence industry, our results indicate that EI has a positive impact on project success, job satisfaction, and trust. Moreover, we found evidence that job satisfaction and trust mediate the relationship between EI and project success. Our findings suggest that top management should be aware of the importance of project managers' job satisfaction and trust, which can both serve to boost project success in complex project situations.
•This study test the underlining mechanisms between project managers’ emotional intelligence and project success•Emotional intelligence has a positive impact on project success, job satisfaction and trust•Job satisfaction and trust mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and project success•This study demonstrates two work attitudes which can both serve to boost project success in complex project situations
Projects have become omnipresent not only in the economy but also in our society and our lives. Projects organize and shape our actions at work, in our professional profiles and networks, and also in ...our homes and free time activities. Drawing on the philosophical cornerstone concepts of activity, time, space, and relations, this article introduces an alternative conceptualization of projects as a “human condition.” The article concludes with implications to the project management community, in terms of both project management practice and research.
Our aim is to develop a set of leading performance indicators to enable managers of large projects to forecast during project execution how various stakeholders will perceive success months or even ...years into the operation of the output. Large projects have many stakeholders who have different objectives for the project, its output, and the business objectives they will deliver. The output of a large project may have a lifetime that lasts for years, or even decades, and ultimate impacts that go beyond its immediate operation. How different stakeholders perceive success can change with time, and so the project manager needs leading performance indicators that go beyond the traditional triple constraint to forecast how key stakeholders will perceive success months or even years later. In this article, we develop a model for project success that identifies how project stakeholders might perceive success in the months and years following a project. We identify success or failure factors that will facilitate or mitigate against achievement of those success criteria, and a set of potential leading performance indicators that forecast how stakeholders will perceive success during the life of the project's output. We conducted a scale development study with 152 managers of large projects and identified two project success factor scales and seven stakeholder satisfaction scales that can be used by project managers to predict stakeholder satisfaction on projects and so may be used by the managers of large projects for the basis of project control.
For an organization to create optimal value from its investment in projects there must be a clear link between the outputs created by the projects and the requirements of the organization's business ...strategy. This means that organizations that have a structure in place for aligning the project deliverables with their organizational goals will be better placed to realize their investment in projects, and achieve the value defined by their business strategies. This paper examines existing research, ideas and concepts of project governance and enterprise project management, and offers a framework to build on current theory development and practice. Synthesizing existing literature of project/program management, governance and portfolio management, this paper proposes four key elements to improve the performance of projects and hence create value for organizations. These four elements are (1) portfolio management: focused on selecting the right projects and programs to support the organization's strategy, and terminating ones that no longer contribute to the business success of the organization; (2) project sponsorship: providing the direct link between the executive and the project or program manager, focused on the whole project lifecycle; (3) Project Management Office (PMO): providing oversight and strategic reporting capabilities; (4) projects and program support: the effective support and management of projects and programs are the measures of an effective governance system. The purpose of the framework described in this paper is to provide guidance to organizations in the development of effective project governance to optimize the management of projects.
•Governance is not management and the functions must be separated.•Governance system cannot operate without effective support of the management system.•The role of management is to make decisions within the framework set by governance.•Four key elements must be considered to support effective governance.•They are portfolio management, project sponsor, PMO, effective project management.
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