Resilience and creative problem-solving capacities in project teams: A relational view

Teams often struggle with their assigned projects and evidence indicates relatively limited project success. Recent research advanced a behavioral perspective to the study of the variance in project performance. We seek to advance this literature by developing and testing a dual-pathway model of project performance. Specifically, we expand on relational coordination theory to suggest that teams can enhance their project performance through two knowledge creation mechanisms – access to knowledge and experiential learning – which underpin resilience and creative problem solving. Results of time-lagged data from project teams indicate that high quality relationships between team members facilitate both experiential learning and access to knowledge, which in turn are positively related to team resilience. Team resilience, in turn, is indirectly related to project performance, through creative problem solving. We advance the extant literature of project management by enhancing our understanding of how relationally coordinated project teams develop capabilities – resilience and creative problem solving – and improve their project performance.     

跨专业BIM团队的工作程序与动态

BIM将技术与方法论相结合,整合了设计和施工团队,从而优化了生产力和项目成果。跨专业团队的本质特色在于来自不同领域的成员引领着不同的项目目标和进程。建筑和施工专业的教育工作者们正面临着让学生融入跨专业团队环境中的挑战。一项为期三年的研究对跨专业团队在课堂环境中,在多个项目上的工作进行了调查。本文论述了该研究所取得的结果,主要侧重于团队工作程序和团队动态两方面,其中,团队工作程序的内容包括目标设定,沟通方式、备选方案分析、决策制定以及冲突管理,团队动态的内容包括人际关系、信任、冲突、承诺以及凝聚力。这些团队证明了综合战略对项目表现和成果的优化作用。除了关于该项研究成果的讨论外,本文还建议培养一个侧重于团队工作程序和团队动态的跨专业学习环境。     

Exploring the communication breakdown in global virtual teams

Virtual matrix-managed teams with geographically dispersed members are becoming increasingly common in the high-tech sector. These teams, referred to as global virtual teams (GVTs), are generally described as culturally diverse, geographically dispersed, electronically-communicating workgroups. They rapidly form, change, and dissolve due to dynamic changes in the market. In addition, most GVTs today have team members spread among several projects with competing priorities. Communication breakdown can wreak havoc on a project as team members struggle to effectively communicate and work with one another. As a result, project delivery risks with distributed teams tend to be greater when compared to co-located teams. To address this critical issue, this study investigates the types of factors that significantly contribute to communication breakdown by identifying five distinct areas through a series of interviews with project team members in high-tech companies. These areas are trust, interpersonal relations, cultural differences, leadership and technology. These criteria are analyzed using mathematical Decision Models taking expert opinions from professionals who worked in GVTs.     

Swift trust formation in multi-national disaster project management teams

In recent years there has been growing interest in how project management theory can both inform and be informed by disaster response and recovery projects. Addressing the lack of empirical research into how trust forms within such projects, this exploratory study mobilises swift trust theory to investigate the process of trust formation within a multinational disaster project management team formed in response to tropical cyclone Winston in Fiji in 2016. In-depth content analysis of qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with disaster management team members, non-participant observation of the disaster project management teams during the disaster response and analysis of disaster management documentation appear to support the predictions of swift trust theory in relation to the importance of reputation, role and interdependence in building swift trust. However, theoretical predictions around the importance of categorical assumptions, confirmation of assumptions and the leadership role of the contractor did not appear to be supported by our data. It is concluded that while swift trust theory can potentially provide valuable practical and theoretical insights into trust formation in multinational disaster project management teams, it may need to be adapted to more accurately model trust formation in a disaster project management context.     

A parallel multiple mediator model of knowledge sharing in architectural design project teams

The demystification of the underlying mechanism for architects' knowledge sharing behavior in a project team context is of importance to better appreciate the behavior in a theoretical sense and for effective managerial intervention in a practical sense. However, most studies of knowledge sharing mechanism in current literature focus on the simple mediation. The likelihood of multiple mediators for knowledge sharing is yet to be investigated. To bridge this gap, structural equation modeling is applied to test the parallel mediation of team-based self-esteem and team identification between two types of trust and knowledge sharing with survey data. It is found that the relation between affect-based trust and knowledge sharing is completely mediated by team-based self-esteem and team identification. The model implies that project managers should pay attention to the cultivation of members' team-based self-esteem and team identification. Special measures should also be taken to build and strengthen the affect-based trust.     

Knowledge sharing in information systems development projects: Explicating the role of dependence and trust

This study provides empirical evidence for the role of dependence and trust in knowledge sharing in information systems projects. As critical antecedents of dependence and trust among team members, four constructs are included in the study—environmental complexity, domain expertise, similarity of project value, and communication frequency. Partial least square analyses are conducted, using data collected from 135 project teams in two large IT firms. The results confirm that dependence and trust maintain a strong impact on knowledge sharing, leading to good team project performance. This study uses a cross-sectional survey as a research method. Longer term exploration seems necessary to further explore how trust and dependence are actually formed among team members. Findings indicate that team members share their knowledge when they trust their partners and when they feel dependent. Feelings of dependence and trust are influenced by the communication frequency, perceived similarity of the project's value, and the perceived expertise. Project managers need to pay attention to these variables in order to increase the level of knowledge sharing among team members especially in information systems development projects where primary tasks are critically knowledge-intensive.     

Meeting challenges with resilience – How innovation projects deal with adversity

Innovation project management is never easy—adversities like budget cuts, fluctuation, and conflicts constantly patter project teams. Recent events of the corona pandemic further complicate matters with restrictions, lockdowns, and uncertainty. This situation urges project leaders and companies to find ways to deal with adverse conditions and simultaneously pursue ambitious project goals. The concept of resilience offers a promising approach for the individual and the project team to deal with adversities. Innovation resilience behaviour aims to enable project teams to identify whether a project is getting off-track and to get it back on track again. This study empirically investigates the relationship between innovation resilience behaviour, project adversities, and project success using 87 innovation project teams. The results show that innovation resilience behaviour positively relates to project success. We further find evidence that innovation resilience behaviour becomes more critical when adversity increases.     

Examining the interdependencies among emotional intelligence,trust, and performance in infrastructure projects: A multilevel study

Regardless of the calls for a distinction between individual and team levels of analysis, studies regarding the multiple-level analysis of emotional intelligence are lacking in the project management literature. This research aims to address this shortcoming by examining the relationships between emotional intelligence, trust, and performance through multilevel analysis. Data were derived from 408 participants from 89 project teams in the large scale projects through three different surveys. We used hierarchical linear modeling and we found that emotional intelligence relates positively to performance and to trust at different levels of analysis. We also found that, at the team level, trust does not mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and project team performance. This research offers a more realistic and comprehensive picture of the management and recognition of emotional intelligence in teams and individuals concurrently and addresses the implications for project leaders of inspiring individuals and teams.     

A socio-cognitive approach to leading a learning project team: A proposed model and scale development

This article proposes a theoretical model and measurement scale for leading a learning project team. While leadership is largely recognized as one of the most important mechanisms for transferring learning from individuals to projects, there lacks a succinct measurement scale for project members to report on project leaders’ behaviors that promote collective learning in projects. Drawing from rich theories on multilevel learning, socio-cognitive conflicts, and leading diversity, we develop a measurement scale that captures project members’ experiences of how their leaders (a) support the identification and communication of project members’ individual mental models, (b) support the resolution of differences in mental models among project team members, and (c) create opportunities and time for team members to interact with others outside the project team. Collectively, these three dimensions form a new scale for leading a learning project team. We cautiously conclude sound psychometric measurement properties from an initial sample of 94 valid responses to a questionnaire distributed to project members through international professional project management networks. This study highlights the multi-level nature of leading a learning project team and provides tentative empirical support for the reflective three-dimensional scale predicting learning in project teams better than transformational leadership.     

Shared and fragmented understandings in interorganizational IT project teams: An interpretive case study

Shared understanding is essential in interorganizational projects to integrate the divergent knowledge of individual team members and support collaborative knowledge building. This can nevertheless be a challenging undertaking in interorganizational projects as team members must continuously negotiate differences in their organizational and professional backgrounds during project work. In this paper, we explore how interorganizational IT project teams deal with sources of ‘fragmentation’ in their understanding, explicating the theoretical and practical implications that these have for project management. Our study is needed to explore the increasingly complex and emergent nature of interorganizational project management today where neither goals nor the means of attainment are known with precision at a project's launch. We analyze interpretive case study findings from an 8-month IT project involving diverse organizations from industry, academia, and healthcare. Based on our findings, we develop a framework which highlights the relationship between three sources of fragmentation of understanding (interpersonal, technical, and contextual) across key project activities. We contribute towards project management literature by revealing how these sources of fragmentation might be overcome through framing project activities (the problem, method, and solution formulation) differently. While fragmentation may characterize any, or all, of these key activities, it is not without remedy.     

Effect of a virtual project team environment on communication-related project risk

Over 150 Information Technology practitioners participated in a study of differences in communication risk between traditional project teams and those that operate virtually, with some team members physically remote. Contrary to prior research, results indicate the level of risk from inadequate communication is not significantly greater when team members are not grouped in one location. Further, despite increased dependence of virtual teams on technology for communication, there was no evidence of significantly more project risk due to technological failure. However, virtual team projects exhibited notably more risk due to insufficient knowledge transfer. A plausible explanation is decreased implicit or informal knowledge transfer in virtual environments. We conclude that the possibility of insufficient knowledge transfer should be included in virtual project risk management plans, and consideration should be given in such projects to the extent to which knowledge that is traditionally shared implicitly might be shared explicitly through electronic means.     

Why cultural intelligence matters on global project teams

Research has established the relevance of cultural intelligence (CQ) for adapting to different cultural contexts and for directly affecting both performance and satisfaction. However, the boundary conditions of CQ have received less attention, in particular regarding global project teams (GPT). The purpose of this paper is to examine how CQ moderates a model of three indirect effects – role clarity, communication norms, and interpersonal trust – on GPT members' performance and satisfaction. Data were collected from 218 virtual GPT members working in a multi-national company that recently transitioned to global project teams for R&D. The results of a moderated-mediation analysis reveal that CQ-motivation – one's attention and energy toward cross-cultural encounters – significantly moderates GPT members' alignment of their communication norms and role clarity, thus indirectly impacting their project satisfaction and performance. We discuss how CQ-motivation can be influential in forming GPTs and in future research of the processual nature of its boundary conditions.     

Shared leadership and project success: The roles of knowledge sharing,cohesion and trust in the team

The role of shared leadership behavior in a project context has received insufficient empirical and theoretical attention. This paper explores its influence on project success, specifically in an IT project context. The paper additionally investigates the mediating role of knowledge sharing, cohesion, and trust in team as moderators. We collected the data of 236 team members in IT projects on two-time points and analyzed the conditional process model through PROCESS after achieving model fit. Results revealed that shared leadership amplifies project success directly and via knowledge sharing and cohesion. Slope analysis revealed that trust in team has an interaction effect with cohesion and knowledge sharing which also affects project success. The study discussed the practical implications and drew conclusions from the results.     

基于共享心智模型的工程项目知识管理

团队中"共享心智模型"的构建能够促进知识共享,提升绩效,有必要研究将"共享心智模型"应用到工程项目知识管理中,并分析如何促进工程项目团队中"共享心智模型"的形成。在构建"共享心智模型"形成过程模型的基础上,分析了阻碍其形成的因素。从工程项目层面构建了"共享心智模型"框架,即设计了能够促进工程项目团队构建"共享心智模型"的信息化平台。为配合"共享心智模型"模型框架的实施提出了促进知识共享的激励措施以提升工程项目的知识管理水平并改善团队绩效。     

Temporal leadership,team processes,and project team task performance

We disaggregate the overall conceptualization of temporal leadership into its two foundation facets: temporal planning and temporal reminders. We integrate these with a two-phase model of team processes during a time-limited project. Specifically, we suggest that leader temporal planning facilitates team transition processes early in a project, leader temporal reminders facilitate team action processes in the middle of the project, and both team processes mediate the effects of leader behavior on team task performance at the end of the project. Data were collected from the members of 51 teams at three points during an application development project and from team leaders at the conclusion of the project. As hypothesized, team transition processes mediated the relationship between leader temporal planning at project initiation and final team task performance. Leader temporal reminders predicted team action processes during project execution. However, team action processes failed to mediate the relationship between leader temporal reminders at the project midpoint and final task performance. We conclude with practical implications for project managers and suggestions for future research.     

Antecedents of trust in intra-organizational relationships within three Singapore public sector construction project management agencies

This paper examines the role and nature of trust in construction project management performance. Three causes, or antecedents, of trust are identified: results, integrity and concern. A questionnaire survey of construction project team members employed by three public sector infrastructure organizations in Singapore is described. The results confirm the expected correlations. Concluding remarks suggest that enlightened management is needed to keep the three antecedents in reasonable balance.     

Task completion competency and project management performance: The influence of control and user contribution

Recent research examines the relationship between competency and success in the information systems project environment. The links, however, are not well established and the antecedents of competency not well explored. We model the link between general task completion competency and performance of development teams with two crucial antecedents built by other stakeholders, the contribution of users and controls established by management. A sample of information systems professionals confirms the model and places a focus on the competencies of the professionals involved in a development. Management must be aware of team level controls and the competencies within a team and not focus on the individual members of a system development team.     

How to build trust in inter-organizational projects: The impact of project staffing and project rewards on the formation of trust,knowledge acquisition and product innovation

The importance of trust in projects that involve multiple project partners is widely acknowledged. This research analyzes both outcomes and antecedents of trust in inter-organizational projects. On the outcome side, the findings show that trust between project team members working on an inter-organizational project positively impacts the acquisition of external knowledge which, in turn, promotes product innovation. With respect to the antecedents of trust data reveal that a stable pool of project team members and objective project reward criteria facilitate the formation of inter-organizational trust.     

To bridge or to bond? Diverse social connections in an IS project team

Although research has shown that knowledge sharing among project team members is crucial for project performance, achieving knowledge sharing is still challenging. This problem is especially salient in IS project teams. Such teams are temporary organizations that may not progress through the necessary team formation cycle, yet are expected to produce intangible outcomes in a limited time. In this paper, we investigate how bonding and bridging social capital influence knowledge sharing and project performance. Bonding could facilitate cohesiveness within a team and lead a team to achieve project goals. Bridging could facilitate access to various beneficial resources beyond the boundary of a project team, increasing creativity and innovation. However, bridging is costly and can obstruct project performance. Our findings suggest that team members with high bonding social capital are more likely to share their knowledge with their team. Bonding and intention to share knowledge also positively affect project performance. Conversely, bridging social capital can contribute to project performance only through the mediating effect of bonding. This research contributes to theory by empirically examining the two types of social capital and their interdependence, as predictors of knowledge sharing and subsequently project performance. Project managers should form teams composed of members with diverse social connections and consider the balance between bonding and bridging within a team to control the potential disadvantageous effects of bridging social capital.