Beyond the paradox: Understanding how project leader humility and narcissism affect project outcomes

The increasing adoption of project structures in a highly competitive business environment brings to the fore the figure of project managers, who are ultimately responsible for the performance of projects in organizations. We investigate how these leaders’ attributes are associated with project outcomes, focusing on project leader humility and narcissism. We also analyze two specific mediating mechanisms through which these behavioral traits promote project performance: team member psychological empowerment and fear of failure. The study was conducted in a multinational conglomerate, based on a sample of 67 project leaders and 190 team members, with team outcomes evaluated by project directors. The findings suggest that leader humility and narcissism both directly and indirectly affect project performance. Project leader humility has a positive, direct effect on project cost and positive indirect effects on project time and quality through team empowerment. Project leader narcissism has a negative, direct effect on project cost, a positive, direct effect on projec quality, and a positive indirect effect on project time through team fear of failure. In addition, team fear of failure has a positive direct effect on project cost. We discuss these findings’ theoretical and practical implications.     

Enhancing project managers’ strategy commitment by leader-leader exchange: The role of psychological empowerment and organizational identification

Projects are considered an important means of implementing strategies in project-based organizations (PBOs). Project managers need to lead projects following organizational strategies in PBOs. As a result, project managers’ commitment to strategy, which reflects their intention to perform strategic behavior, plays an important role in strategy implementation in PBOs. This study examined the role of leader-leader exchange (LLX), psychological empowerment, and organizational identification of project managers in enhancing strategy commitment. Survey data were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The results show that both LLX and psychological empowerment of project managers enhance their strategy commitment. Besides, this study reveals project managers’ psychological motivational mechanisms by investigating the mediating role of psychological empowerment and the moderating role of organizational identification. This study contributes to PBOs strategy implementation literature by extending the enhancers of strategy commitment. It generates useful insights by revealing project managers’ psychological mechanisms between LLX and strategy commitment.     

Relating risk to project performance in Indonesian building contracts

A construction project is unique, specific and dynamic, and therefore projects have different levels and combinations of risks, different responses are taken to minimise those risks and different consequences affect project performance. The primary aim of this study was to analyse the impacts of perceived project risk on project performance. A path model was developed and path analysis was used to determine the relationships between risk and performance. The main survey was predominantly based on a series of interviews with project managers. A total of 22 building projects under construction were surveyed; however, only 13 projects used an ‘S’ curve to monitor their project performance. The study focused on these 13 projects and found that perceived project risk had a direct negative effect on monthly progress achievement, while monthly progress had a direct positive impact on schedule performance. Although project risk had no direct effect on schedule performance, this was influenced indirectly with monthly progress as the mediator between them. These findings indicate that the higher the project risk in a project, the greater the negative impact on monthly progress, and consequently the worse the schedule performance will be.     

Examining the role of transformational leadership of portfolio managers in project performance

Research into the role of transformational leadership in project based organisations has generally focused on project managers or senior managers and less so on portfolio managers who oversee multiple projects to achieve business objectives. This study examines the impact of transformational leadership behaviour of portfolio managers on project performance directly and indirectly through other intervening variables such as climate for innovation and innovation championing. Using a questionnaire survey, data were obtained from 112 project managers in a UK project based organisation. Transformational leadership behaviour of portfolio managers was found to have a positive and significant relationship with project performance. Innovation championing and climate for innovation both partially mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and project performance. The study confirms the importance of portfolio managers in enhancing project performance and identifies the need for project based organisations to cultivate transformational leadership behaviour among them for enhanced performance. It also highlights the need for further exploration of the role of portfolio managers in improving project performance.     

Coping Efforts and Efficacy,Acculturation, and Post-Traumatic Symptomatology in Adolescents Following Wildfire

Recent studies of children and adolescents who have experienced a residential, industrial, or wild fire have suggested a causal link between fire disaster and PTSD related psychological distress. Not everyone, however, is equally affected by the stress of experiencing such an event, and the role of coping in this process may be an important mediating factor.Additionally, several studies have found that girls and African Americans report more distress following disasters than do boys and Caucasians. The current study sought to investigate the roles of exposure/loss, coping efficacy, and coping strategy in mediating psychological distress in adolescents after a disaster.The current study included a representative sample of 206 9th graders from a Central Florida High School affected by severe wildfires who were assessed via self-report measures 3- and 10- months after the fires, to assess the explanatory roles of exposure/loss, coping efficacy, and coping strategy on PTSD. Moreover, acculturation level and SES were included along with gender and ethnicity in testing for the moderating role of sociodemographics.Results indicated an important role for exposure/loss, coping efficacy, and coping strategy as they related to PTSD symptomatology in adolescents at both Time 1 and Time 2. Finally, although relationships between the proposed variables and PTSD did not interact with gender, acculturation, SES, or ethnicity, there was a significant interaction between acculturation and ethnicity signifying that for African American youth, high acculturation levels were predictive of less PTSD symptomatology.Portions of these data were presented at the annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in Miami in 1999.The primary data collection portion of this project was funded by a grant from the National Hazard Center, awarded to the first and second authors. Portions of this project were funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health, awarded to the second author and Thomas H. Ollendick.     

Strategies for overlapping dependent design activities

Overlapping activities that are traditionally performed in a sequential manner can significantly reduce project delivery times. Overlapping, however, should be approached in a systematic manner to reduce the costs and risks. Information gathered from sector‐based case studies and from the manufacturing domain suggest a formalised framework for identifying overlapping opportunities and strategies can be successfully implemented for infrastructure projects. This framework considers activity characteristics, such as evolution of upstream information and sensitivity of downstream activities to changes in upstream information, to identify appropriate overlapping strategies. Overlapping strategies, such as early freezing of design criteria, overdesign, and early release of preliminary information, are selected based on activity characteristics. These strategies operate either by speeding up the evolution of upstream information or by reducing the sensitivity of downstream activities. By aligning overlapping strategies with activity characteristics, project managers can make better decisions on when and how much to overlap sequential activities to reduce overall project delivery time.     

A psychological contract perspective of vertical and distributed leadership in project-based organizations

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between two leadership styles (vertical and distributed), conceptualized through types of decisions made (strategic and operational/tactical), and the state of psychological contract (fulfillment/breach) at three different levels of the organizational hierarchy in project-based organizations. The explorative analysis of eight organizations from India and Australia demonstrates the prevalence of distributed leadership: operational and technical decisions are usually entrusted to the project team and project managers, while strategic decisions are made by senior management. The study suggests that three factors facilitate a specific leadership style (vertical or distributed): organizational culture, knowledge sharing and project management practices, which in turn impact the state of psychological contract (fulfillment/breach). A flexible, collaborative organizational culture supports knowledge sharing and the adoption of agile methods, enabling distributed leadership and leading to psychological contract fulfillment.     

The impact of a challenging work environment: Do job stressors benefit citizenship behavior of project managers?

Construction project managers are subjected to high levels of job stressors, while extra-role behavior (e.g., citizenship behavior) is simultaneously required of them. We propose the intervening processes of work-related psychological well-being in the path from job stressors to project citizenship behavior and investigate the moderating effect of leader-member exchange on the link between job stressors and well-being (i.e., work engagement and psychological strain). Consistent and competing hypotheses are proposed by integrating the challenge-hindrance stressor framework and the job demands-resources theory. The conceptual model was examined with time-lagged data collected from 236 construction project managers of owners and contractors. Results confirm that hindrance stressors are “bad” stressors because they positively influence psychological strain, whereas challenge stressors are not “good” stressors as expected because they negatively influence work engagement. Further, both challenge and hindrance stressors have a negative indirect relationship with project citizenship behavior via work engagement and psychological strain, highlighting the value of considering project managers’ well-being. Contrary to expectations, the moderating effect of leader-member exchange is not supported. These findings contribute to the research on occupational stressors and project citizenship behavior, as well as the link between them.     

Strategic responses to external stakeholder influences

When external stakeholders manipulate inputs and influence a project directly, managers need to respond strategically to keep the project moving forward. This study follows a grounded theory approach to establish a model of strategic responses to stakeholder influences. Results show that managers can take a negotiating or conceding approach while under external pressures. The former approach suggests countering the impacts, including four strategies: manipulating, persuading, bargaining and litigating. The latter implies that managers accept such pressures and attempt to keep things going forward, employing three strategies: complying, diverting and terminating. The ways that a manager selects response strategies are informed by eight factors: socio-legal environment; organisational characteristics of the owner; behavioural stability of input holders; characteristics of inputs; project adaptability; the timing of responding; project legitimacy; and the harmony of interests amongst the beneficiaries, affected parties and other actors external to the project. When dealing with pressure from input holders, managers can use the repertoire of response strategies as an aid to making timely decisions; they can also select the most appropriate strategy by examining explanatory factors from the macro to micro level.     

The antecedents of co‐operative behaviour among project team members: an alternative perspective on an old issue

Poor project performance is generally attributed to a lack of co‐operation between project participants. Much work is directed towards understanding the structural and organizational antecedents of co‐operation, but little in understanding how socio‐psychological factors affect individual co‐operative behaviour. Using social identity theory, this study attempts to fill this research gap by arguing that individuals define their self‐concepts through the organizations with which they identify and that these identity‐based forces are the basis for the development of co‐operative behaviour. Empirical findings using responses from 398 senior executives of construction firms substantiate this argument, as individuals with strong organizational identity are indeed more psychologically predisposed to behave co‐operatively. There are grounds to propose that organizational identity should be used in conjunction with other tangible economic incentives as effective mechanisms for improving individual co‐operation. Therefore, rigorous attempts by construction firms to foster such identity may prove fruitful to overall project performance. Further research is needed to explore how it may impact on other important aspects of co‐operation such as decision making and problem solving processes within the construction industry.     

低层居住区的模式、生活和建筑——以古北·御墅项目为例

试图从使用、建造和设计的不同视角来审视低层低密度住宅的主要特征,结合古北御墅项目设计过程中具体的应对策略,剖析居住产品的基本属性,并概括了项目开发过程中所引发的设计思考。     

建筑工程中影响施工的部分设计问题的研究与思考

建筑设计是建筑施工的风向标,如果设计问题出现问题,将直接影响到工程施工工作的开展。笔者所从事的建筑专业设计工作中,就有数种这样影响施工的设计问题。本文主要通过对地面设计和地下室防水两方面设计问题的探讨来说明合理设计的重要性。     

建设单位安全经理工作压力研究

近年来,安全管理在建设工程管理中越来越受到重视,建设单位新设立“安全经理”岗位进行安全管理工作。由于安全管理作为贯穿施工全过程的管理工作、涉及内容多、工作责任大,并且新设立岗位缺乏相关经验,安全经理目前面临较大的工作压力。采用问卷调研的方法对建设单位安全经理工作压力大小及压力源进行调研,通过均值分析和配对样本t 检验,分别对岗位工作任务压力现状和不同生产阶段的工作压力来源进行了分析。结果表明:安全经理的工作压力主要来源于需要专业技能的日常安全管理工作,即重大危险源管理和安全检查;兼职安全经理的工作压力同时来源于安全管理工作和非安全管理工作,且二者压力值均处于较高水平;开工阶段、基坑阶段和主体施工阶段安全管理工作压力较大,其中钢管脚手架、起重机械、吊篮、危大工程的安全管理工作压力尤为突出。并为缓解建设单位安全经理工作压力提出了针对性建议。     

Why projects fail? How contingency theory can provide new insights – A comparative analysis of NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter loss

When important projects fail, the investigation is often focused on the engineering and technical reasons for the failure. That was the case in NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) that was lost in space after completing its nine-month journey to Mars. Yet, in many cases the root cause of the failure is not technical, but managerial. Often the problem is rooted in management’s failure to select the right approach to the specific project. The objective of this paper is to enrich our understanding of project failure due to managerial reasons by utilizing different contingency theory frameworks for a retrospective look at unsuccessful projects and perhaps more important, potential prevention of future failures. The evolving field of project management contingency theory provides an opportunity at this time to re-examine the concept of fit between project characteristics and project management, and offer deeper insights on why projects fail. After outlining several existing contingency studies, we use three distinct frameworks for analyzing the MCO project. These frameworks include Henderson and Clark’s categorization of change and innovation, Shenhar and Dvir’s NTCP diamond framework, and Pich, Loch, and De Meyer’s strategies for managing uncertainty. While each framework provides a different perspective, collectively, they demonstrate that in the MCO program, the choices made by managers, or more accurately, the constraints imposed on them under the policy of ‘better, faster, cheaper’, led the program to its inevitable failure. This paper shows that project management contingency theory can indeed provide new insights for a deeper understanding of project failure. Furthermore, it suggests implications for a richer upfront analysis of a project’s unique characteristics of uncertainty and risk, as well as additional directions of research. Such research may help establish new and different conceptions on project success and failure beyond the traditional success factors, and subsequently develop more refined contingency frameworks. The results of such research may enable future project managers to rely less on heuristics and possibly lead to a new application of “project management design.”     

IT based system for construction safety management and monitoring: C-RTICS2

In North America, thousands of construction workers get injured and dozens die, on a yearly basis, due to work related injuries and illnesses. This reality prevailed from year 2000 to 2012 without a significant decrease. It seems that advanced health and safety regulations failed to make a positive impact. However, the use of information and communication technologies to improve safety is limited in the construction industry. This paper describes a system that transmits safety related information of multiple construction projects into a centralized database, where real-time safety indicators are generated. The system provides safety indicators related to an individual project or industry-wide figures. On site managers can use such real-time information for informed decisions in work sites. The system can also be accessed by the general public, research institutions, and regulating bodies, to formulate industry-wide safety standards and policies. The proposed system was pilot tested with positive and encouraging results.     

Occupational stress and job demand,control and support factors among construction project consultants

Occupational stress affects the health and wellbeing of people who work, and the construction industry is recognized as a high-stress working environment. The relationship between job demands, job control, workplace support, and experiences of stress in the South African construction context is investigated, using hierarchical regression, factor analysis and structural equation modeling to explore the strength of thirteen factor relationships with perceived stress. Data were gathered from an on-line questionnaire survey response sample of 676 architects, civil engineers, quantity surveyors, and project and construction managers. Predictors displaying a significant relationship with occupational stress are the presence of work–life imbalance, the need to ‘prove’ oneself, hours worked per week, working to tight deadlines, and support from line managers in difficult situations at work. Existing theories of occupational stress are confirmed but not completely supported. The construction industry should give attention to how the need to work long hours is justified. Organizations should look to improving managerial and collegial support for construction professionals, but be careful in engaging in socializing and project team-building activities. Further research will need to focus more deeply on construction-specific job demand factors; explore why women professionals appear to experience more stress than men; and aim to develop reliable early-warning detection techniques for construction professionals.     

Egypt: The state,foreign aid and community participation in urban shelter projects

The interplay between international policies and the interests and internal pressures of the state is examined in the context of project‐based community participation in urban shelter provision in Egypt. Three contrasting upgrading projects are used. Using the concept of interest mediation, the paper argues that, whilst the state may be receptive to external pressure for community participation, this reciprocity is constrained by the extent to which external agendas fit domestic needs and the social contract between the state and various class interests. The paper shows how the well‐recognized malleability of the concept and the limitations to effective implementation, cannot be explained by conventional project evaluation methodology and technical or bureaucratic factors. Instead, a method is used which links macro‐level international interests (such as aid agendas, geostrategic objectives) to micro‐level grass‐roots variables. Despite the growing centrality of the urban sector and modes of community participation in the changing paradigms of development, local outcomes are primarily influenced by decisions made in the broader context of the political economy—not by the specific objectives of housing sector policies or methods of community involvement in their implementation.     

Project managers and major projects

Most project managers aim or hope to work on at least one major project during their career. Obtaining the necessary experience to cope with such a project can pose problems for a young aspiring project manager. The term project manager is defined, and the methods employed to select project managers are discussed. The work that a project manager is expected to do is outlined. Suggestions are made as to how the experience needed to control a major project can be obtained.     

Stakeholder impact analysis of infrastructure project management in developing countries: a study of perception of project managers in state‐owned engineering firms in Vietnam

Construction projects can involve a diverse range of stakeholders and the success of the project depends very much on fulfilling their needs and expectations. It is important, therefore, to identify and recognize project stakeholders and develop a rigorous stakeholder management process. However, limited research has investigated the impact of stakeholders on construction projects in developing countries. A stakeholder impact analysis (SIA), based on an approach developed by Olander (2007), was adopted to investigate the stakeholders’ impact on state‐owned civil engineering projects in Vietnam. This involved the analysis of a questionnaire survey of 57 project managers to determine the relative importance of different stakeholders. The results show the client to have the highest level of impact on the projects, followed by project managers and the senior management of state‐owned engineering firms. The SIA also provides suggestions to project managers in developing and evaluating the stakeholder management process.     

Not all project ambiguity is equal: A typology of project ambiguity and implications for its management

Ambiguity is integral to managing projects, yet little is currently known about the types of ambiguity faced by project managers, and how they respond to the different types of ambiguity. To contribute to knowledge on the nature and outcomes of ambiguity in the project management context, we conducted two studies to explore the types of ambiguity experienced by project managers (study 1) and how project managers experience and manage these ambiguities (study 2). In study 1, we used survey data from 312 project managers describing 704 discrete ambiguous situations in projects to construct a typology of ambiguous situations in the project management context. In study 2, we conducted 18 interviews with project managers to explore how they experience and manage ambiguities in their projects. Collectively, these studies revealed that 1) project managers face numerous types of ambiguities in projects, which we catalogued into seven higher order categories, 2) “task related” ambiguities tend to evoke more positive emotions in project managers, while “people related” ambiguities tend to evoke more negative emotions, and 3) experienced project managers tend to engage in a range of common practices that allow them to effectively manage ambiguity.  Our findings have a range of implications for how project managers can best be trained and supported in the context of high ambiguity.