•Investigates a large-scale information system implementation project in a US-based firm.•Offers insights into the role and practices of project memory in overcoming challenges inherent in ...large-scale projects.•Presents an inductively developed framework of project memory constituting three mnemonic co-orchestration practices: situated focusing, synchronizing discourse, and converging boundaries.•Enhances the current understanding of the dynamic nature of large-scale projects by providing managerial practices with an alternative perspective on large-scale projects.
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a US-based firm engaged in a large-scale information system implementation project, this study presents an inductively developed framework of project memory incorporating three mnemonic co-orchestration practices: situated focusing, synchronizing discourse, and converging boundaries. Project memory is proposed to help manage challenges posed by large-scale projects as we observed in this study. This study offers insights into the role and practices of project memory and provides recommendations for managerial practice related to developing narrative and storytelling skills, strategically using meetings, and fostering a culture of cross-functional collaboration in large-scale projects.
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Construction projects that involve repetitive operations are often referred to as repetitive construction projects. Scheduling them proves a task more demanding than in the case of projects in other ...industries. Typical objectives of optimization, a characteristic set of constraints, as well as the schedule’s susceptibility to the propagation of disruptions caused by materializing risks, call for specific scheduling methods. The authors review the literature to summarize the existing repetitive scheduling methods and put forward their classification to identify the method’s aspects needing refinement. This is done to point to directions of further research. The authors hope that this study will contribute to better identification of existing problems in planning repetitive construction projects and faster development of decision support systems, eagerly anticipated by the construction practitioners. Though the focus is on applications to construction projects, the repetitive scheduling methods that account for volatile operating conditions may be of interest to researchers who develop planning techniques for other industries.
This book delves into the research-policy nexus as it relates to development in Africa. It does so by examining four country-cases - Botswana, Cte d'Ivoire, Kenya and Zambia - while referring to ...South Africa as a possible exemplar case.The book reaffirms that the majority of governments in Africa spend less than one per cent of their GDP on research and development (R&D) despite the commitment to raise their research funding levels contained in the Lagos Plan of Action (1980). Hence, reliance on external funding for research persists on the continent.To manage research engagements and public funds, Science Granting Councils (SGCs) have been established. These institutions are held accountable for how public funds are spent and how the research they fund contributes to the advancement of society.To-date, the SGCs and researchers have demonstrated in various ways how funded research contributes to the advancement of society. However, there appear to be differences in opinion amongst key stakeholders in terms of what constitutes research priorities as well as expectations in terms of the returns on research investments made.This book brings to the fore the importance of research and its outcome on societal development, and reveals the stake that African governments hold in the process. The book encourages African governments to show greater commitment to providing funding for research on the continent.This is critical if governments are to assume a lead role in the continent's development agenda. It would also set the stage for partnerships with other stakeholders, including industry and funding organisations. Researchers are also encouraged to work closely with the SGCs to ensure the valorisation of research products for societal benefit. This has a potential to unlock more funding for research in Africa which, in turn, would drive the development of the continent.
Based on the words and experiences of the people involved, this book tells the story of the community arts movement in the UK, and, through a series of essays, assesses its influence on present day ...participatory arts practices. Part I offers the first comprehensive account of the movement, its history, rationale and modes of working in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales; Part II brings the work up to the present, through a scholarly assessment of its influence on contemporary practice that considers the role of technologies and networks, training, funding, commissioning and curating socially engaged art today. The community arts movement was a well-known but little understood and largely undocumented creative revolution that began as part of the counter-cultural scene in the late 1960s. A wide range of art forms were developed, including large processions with floats and giant puppets, shadow puppet shows, murals and public art, events on adventure playgrounds and play schemes, outdoor events and fireshows. By the middle of the 1980s community arts had changed and diversified to the point where its fragmentation meant that it could no longer be seen as a coherent movement. Interviews with the early pioneers provide a unique insight into the arts practices of the time. Culture, Democracy and the Right to Make Art is not simply a history because the legacy and influence of the community arts movement can be seen in a huge range of diverse locations today. Anyone who has ever encountered a community festival or educational project in a gallery or museum or visited a local arts centre could be said to be part of the on-going story of the community arts.
Impact Evaluation in Practice Gertler, Paul; Martinez, Sebastian; Premand, Patrick ...
2010, 12-13-2010, 20110101
eBook
Open access
This book offers an accessible introduction to the topic of impact evaluation and its practice in development. While the book is geared principally towards development practitioners and policymakers ...designing prospective impact evaluations, we trust that it will be a valuable resource for students and others interested in using impact evaluation. Prospective impact evaluations should be used selectively to assess whether or not a program has achieved its intended results, or to test alternatives for achieving those results. We consider that more and better impact evaluation will help strengthen the evidence base for development policies and programs around the world. If governments and development practitioners can make policy decisions based on evidence - including evidence generated through impact evaluation - our hope is that development resources will be spent more effectively, and ultimately have a greater impact on reducing poverty and improving people?s lives. The three chapters in this handbook provide a non-technical introduction to impact evaluations, including ?Why Evaluate? in Chapter 1, ?How to Evaluate? in Chapter 2 and ?How to Implement Impact Evaluations? in Chapter 3. These elements are the basic ?tools? needed in order to successfully carry out an impact evaluation. From a methodological standpoint our approach to impact evaluation is largely pragmatic: we think that the most appropriate methods should be identified to fit the operational context, and not the other way around. This is best achieved at the outset of the program, through the design of prospective impact evaluation that can be built into the project?s implementation. We argue that gaining consensus between key stakeholders and identifying an evaluation design that fits the political and operational context is as important as the method itself. We also believe
strongly that impact evaluations should be upfront about their limitations and caveats. Finally, we strongly encourage policymakers and program managers to consider impact evaluations in a logical framework that clearly sets out the causal pathways by which the program works to produce outputs and influence final outcomes, and to combine impact evaluations with monitoring and selected complementary evaluation approach to gain a full picture of performance.This book builds on a core set of teaching materials developed for the ?Turning Promises to Evidence? workshops organized by the office of the Chief Economist for Human Development (HDNCE) in partnership with regional units and the Development Economics Research Group (DECRG) at the World Bank.
Despite the relevance of corruption in project selection, planning and delivery, the project management literature pays little attention to this crucial phenomenon. This paper sets the background to ...foster the discussion concerning how to select, plan and deliver infrastructure in corrupt project contexts. It presents the different types of corruptions and the characteristics of projects that are more likely to suffer from it. Corruption is particularly relevant for large and uncommon projects where the public sector acts as client/owner or even as the main contractor. Megaprojects are “large unique projects” where public actors play a key role and are very likely to be affected by corruption. Corruption worsens both cost and time performance, and the benefits delivered. This paper leverages the institutional theory to introduce the concept of “corrupt project context” and, using the case study of the Italian high-speed railways, shows the impact of a corrupt context on megaprojects.
•Corruption is extremely relevant for the planning and delivering of public projects•Corruption is under-researched in the project management literature•Features such as large project size, uniqueness, and complexity favour corruption•Megaprojects have most of the features favouring corruptions•Megaprojects performance worsens in corrupt project contexts like Italy
Challenges, Lessons, and Prospects for Operationalizing Regional Projects in Asia: Legal and Institutional Aspects is part of the World Bank Studies Series. These papers are published to communicate ...the results of the Bank's ongoing research and to stimulate public discourse. For the past decade and a half, international development organizations have been making continual efforts to finance multi-country projects with regional goals. Despite their efforts, the structure of intervention through such projects has not been easy to design and implement. Experience shows that one of the reasons for this is the lack of clarity in the enabling legal framework and tools, both within the client countries as well as the development organizations. Against this backdrop, this study is born of a need for more precise and comprehensive information about the legal and institutional aspects involved in designing regional projects. Based essentially on desk research and with limited field consultation, it attempts to discuss-primarily from legal and institutional perspectives???the tools, prospects, and opportunities for designing and implementing regional projects. Paying particular focus on the emerging practice of the World Bank, and with a special reference to the Asia region, the study reviews the framework for regional projects in which international development organizations operate, the problems they face, and the possibilities they provide for countries that rely on international financing for their development. Challenges, Lessons, and Prospects for Operationalizing Regional Projects in Asia: Legal and Institutional Aspects outlines the general structures of regional projects and discusses the World Bank approach toward regional projects, the importance of political will and commitment, the general legal structures for regional projects, the uniqueness
and challenges for Asia, and makes some proposals for consideration in developing regional projects. The study will be of particular interest to development professionals working in the context of regional projects and anyone interested in how legal and institutional structures impact project development. World Bank Studies are available individually or on standing order. The World Bank Studies series is also available online through the World Bank eLibrary (www.worldbank.org/elibrary).
Abstract
Major projects are high-value (£100 million+) investments across sectors such as transport, energy, health, defence, or IT systems. Globally, a significant proportion of government policy ...initiatives are delivered through major projects. There is, however, a paradox at the heart of the major project phenomenon. Although major projects are indispensable tools for turning policy ideals into reality, their track record is strikingly poor. Cost and time overruns, financial engineering, under-supply, poor service, environmental detriment, and social dissatisfaction blight major projects. Poor outcomes have been a feature of the wide array of delivery mechanisms deployed over the past 150 years, including direct public provision, regulated private provision, public–private partnerships, and concessions, agreements, and franchises. The papers in this issue of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy explore the nature of this paradox and offer strategies designed to get major projects right, including repeatable platform strategies; mission-orientated investments; and deliberative and collaborative incentive schemes.
Recent studies of temporary organizing and project-based work explain how organizational actors establish and maintain clear role structures and harmonious relations in the face of precariousness by ...engaging in stabilizing work practices. This focus upon ‘order’ undervalues conflict-ridden negotiations and power struggles in temporary organizing. This paper demonstrates that in temporary organizing conflict and order may exist in tandem. Drawing close to the collaborative dynamics in a large-scale global project, we analyse the political struggles over role patterns and hierarchic positioning of client and agent in the temporary organization of the Panama Canal Expansion Program (PCEP). In such projects, the agent typically takes the position of project leader. In this case however, the client was formally in charge, while the agent was assigned the role of coach and mentor. The diffuse hierarchy triggered project partners to engage in both harmony-seeking social and discursive practices and to enter into conflict-ridden negotiations over authority relations in the everyday execution of the PCEP project. Our study contributes to existing literatures on temporal organizing by presenting a case of simultaneous practices of harmonization and contestation over mutual roles and hierarchic positions. We also show that studying collaboration between project partners involves, not merely analysing project governance structures, but also offering a context-sensitive account of everyday social and discursive practices. Finally, we reflect on a view of ‘permanence’ and ‘temporariness’ as themselves contested categories and symbolic sites for struggle.
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