MINIMIZING RESISTANCE TO TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE A Power and Politics Approach

Abstract

To minimize organizational resistance to implementation of an automated project management tool, a technology team at Apollo Computer used a power and politics approach emphasizing the role of coalitions in decision making. The team built a coalition favorable toward the new tool by involving key project managers in all phases of the implementation process.     

Literate programming on a team project

We used literate programming on a team project to write a 33,000 line program for the Synthesizer Generator. The program, Penelope, was written using WEB, a tool designed for writing literate programs. Unlike other WEB programs, many of which have been written by WEB's developer or by individuals, Penelope was not intended to be published. We used WEB in the hope that both our team and its final product would benefit from the advantages often attributed to literate programming. The WEB source served as good internal documentation throughout development and maintenance, and it continues to document Penelope's design and implementation. Our experience also uncovered a number of problems with WEB.     

Situated learning with co-operative agent simulations in team training

The paper describes pedagogic aspects of the theory, design, analysis techniques used and implementation experience acquired during the development of a team training simulation system with a virtual reality interface for learning from emergencies. In particular we demonstrate: the desirability of team training strategies; the value of using training scenarios for constructing shared mental models with intelligent agents, and the use of a virtual reality interface. We present a tool designed and developed to reify the communication acts of team members that demonstrates support for reflective learning. An evaluation tests the acceptability of the simulation and provides feedback from an observation study. The paper then shares some of the emergent questions raised through the project particularly those relating to the management of errors, the fidelity of simulations for training and communications between agents, and the organisational context of integration.     

Identity ambiguity and the promises and practices of hybrid e-HRM project teams

The role of IS project team identity work in the enactment of day-to-day relationships with their internal clients is under-researched. We address this gap by examining the identity work undertaken by an electronic human resource management (e-HRM) ‘hybrid’ project team engaged in an enterprise-wide IS implementation for their multi-national organisation. Utilising social identity theory, we identify three distinctive, interrelated dimensions of project team identity work (project team management, team ‘value propositions’ (promises) and the team’s ‘knowledge practice’). We reveal how dissonance between two perspectives of e-HRM project identity work (clients’ expected norms of project team’s service and project team’s expected norms of themselves) results in identity ambiguity. Our research contributions are to identity studies in the IS project management, HR and hybrid literatures and to managerial practice by challenging the assumption that hybrid experts are the panacea for problems associated with IS projects.     

Six-Sigma project selection using national quality award criteria and Delphi fuzzy multiple criteria decision-making method

Six-Sigma is a tactical tool of significant value in achieving operational excellence. The project selection decision, under a resources constraint, is the early stage of implementation for a Six-Sigma intervention. The project selection decision is challenging due to its fuzzy group decision-making aspect inherent to the problem. The present study proposes to adopt national quality award criteria as the Six-Sigma project selection criteria, and proposes a hierarchical criteria evaluation process. The strategic criteria are evaluated by the management team using a Delphi fuzzy multiple criteria decision-making method. Then, the tactical sub-criteria which contain additional operational issues are evaluated by the Six-Sigma Champion. The proposed methodology is successfully applied in solving the project selection problem deriving from a component manufacturer. The empirical outcomes are promising. Moreover, the results show that the higher a project’s priority is, the greater the financial gains will be on completion of the project. Accordingly, the proposed methodology can prioritize the financial gain – which is the key performance indicator for a Six-Sigma project. Additionally, the quality status of the case company has been significantly improved through implementation of the Six-Sigma project. The systematic evaluation process also influences employees to adopt an analytical operations philosophy. Moreover, the commercial objectives of the company are brought into focus by the proposed methodology.     

一个B/S结构的软件项目管理平台的分析和设计

阐述了一个软件项目的管理平台分析和设计过程。该平台采用B/S结构构建,在Intranet/Internet环境下使用。以项目集中管理、共享资源、协同服务为宗旨,提供了一个完整的软件项目管理理念和流程,实现了项目立项登记、项目预算维护、项目实施计划制定、项目收款计划和实收、团队成员选取、实施方法论选取、项目文档上传、项目风险预警、项目费用维护、项目文档检索、专家资源检索等功能。     

Formal model for assigning human resources to teams in software projects

Context

Human resources play a critical role in software project success. However, people are still the least formalized factor in today’s process models. Generally, people are assigned to roles and project teams are formed on the basis of project leaders’ experience of people, constraints (e.g. availability) and skill requirements. Yet this process has to take multiple factors into account. Few works in the literature model this process. Most of these are informal proposals focusing on the individual assignment of people to project tasks and do not consider other aspects like team formation as a whole.

Objective

In this paper we formulate a formal model for assigning human resources to software project teams. Additionally, we describe the key results of the knowledge management process enacted to output the elements of the model.

Method

The model elements were identified using the Delphi expert consultation method and applying psychological tests. The proposed model was implemented in a software tool and validated on two software development organization assignment scenarios.

Results

We built a formal model for the process of assigning human resources to software project teams. This model takes into account as many factors as possible and aids the assignment of individuals to project roles, as well as the formation of the team as a whole.We found that the rules that were identified to form software development project teams are useful. From the tests we found that model implementation was feasible (all the executions of the implemented problem-solving algorithms output feasible solutions in response times that can be considered as acceptable).

Conclusion

Using the Delphi method we were able to propose software project roles and competences. Psychological tests and data mining tools identified useful rules for forming software project teams. These were used to build a formal model. This model was built into a tool that returns role assignments in acceptable response times. This decision support tool helps managers assign people to roles and to form teams. Using the tool, project leaders can flexibly evaluate different team make-ups, taking into account several factors, as well as different constraints and objectives.     

The development of a tool to predict team performance

The paper describes the development of a tool to predict quantitatively the success of a team when executing a process. The tool was developed for the UK defence industry, though it may be useful in other domains. It is expected to be used by systems engineers in initial stages of systems design, when concepts are still fluid, including the structure of the team(s) which are expected to be operators within the system. It enables answers to be calculated for questions such as “What happens if I reduce team size?” and “Can I reduce the qualifications necessary to execute this process and still achieve the required level of success?”.The tool has undergone verification and validation; it predicts fairly well and shows promise. An unexpected finding is that the tool creates a good a priori argument for significant attention to Human Factors Integration in systems projects. The simulations show that if a systems project takes full account of human factors integration (selection, training, process design, interaction design, culture, etc.) then the likelihood of team success will be in excess of 0.95. As the project derogates from this state, the likelihood of team success will drop as low as 0.05. If the team has good internal communications and good individuals in key roles, the likelihood of success rises towards 0.25. Even with a team comprising the best individuals, p(success) will not be greater than 0.35.It is hoped that these results will be useful for human factors professionals involved in systems design.     

Neural networks for construction project success

Being able to identify key attributes for successful project performance is of paramount importance to project owners, contractors, and designers. Understanding these key factors can help in the efficient execution of a construction project. This paper identifies key project management attributes associated with achieving successful budget performance using a neural network approach. Neural network models were developed using field data comprising potential determinants of construction project success. Altogether eight key project management factors were identified: (1) number of organizational levels between the project manager and craft workers; (2) amount of detailed design completed at the start of construction; (3) number of control meetings during the construction phase; (4) number of budget updates; (5) implementation of a constructability program; (6) team turnover; (7) amount of money expended on controlling the project; (8) the project manager's technical experience. The final model, after sufficient training, can also be used as a predictive tool to forecast budget performance of a construction project. This approach allows the budget performance model to be built even though the functional interrelationships between inputs and output are not clearly defined. The model also performs reasonably well with incomplete information of the inputs.     

“国培计划”县级教师培训团队置换脱产研修项目学员返岗问卷调查报告

根据保山学院实施的“国培计划”县级教师培训团队置换脱产研修项目,采用问卷的形式对学员返岗后跟踪调查,总结项目实施经验的同时,分析项目实施存在问题,探讨了对策,更有力的推进“国培计划”。     

基于IMOCS算法的IPD团队激励池动态分配问题研究

在IPD项目交付模式实施中，如何有效地解决各参与方的风险分担及利益分配问题一直是阻碍该模式广泛应用的最大瓶颈。通过研究合适的利益分配比例对IPD团队各参与方起到实现整体项目利益最大化的激励作用为出发点，提出激励池模型，引入时间因素、激励机制和满意度，考虑影响因素在整个项目实施过程的动态性，建立了IPD团队动态激励池分配模型，采用IMOCS算法对模型进行求解。通过算例验证了模型、算法的科学性和有效性。优化了激励池分配方案，促进了IPD模式的实施。     

IssuePlayer: An extensible framework for visual assessment of issue management in software development projects

This article presents a software visualization framework which can help project managers and team leaders in overseeing issues and their management in software development. To automate the framework, a dashboard tool called IssuePlayer is developed. The tool is used to study the trends in which different types of issues (e.g., bugs, support requests) are submitted, handled and piled up in software projects and use that information to identify process symptoms, e.g., the times when the code maintenance team is not responsive enough. The interactive nature of the tool enables identification of the team members who have not been as active as they were expected to be in such cases. The user can play, pause, rewind and forward the issue management histories using the tool. The tool is empirically evaluated by two industrial partners in North America and Europe. The survey and qualitative feedback support the usefulness and effectiveness of the tool in assessing the issue management processes and the performance of team members. The tool can be used complementarily in parallel with textual information provided by issue management tools (e.g., BugZilla) to enable team leaders to conduct effective and successful monitoring of issue management in software development projects.     

Scrum方法在企业档案管理系统开发中的应用

在江苏省工商局企业档案管理系统的开发过程中,对Scrum方法进行改进和扩展,使之能够适用于开发经验和项目管理经验不足的团队。论述使用Scrum方法中可能遇到的问题及解决办法,为Scrum的实施提供有益的参考和借鉴。     

Effective ERP adoption processes: the role of project activators and resource investments

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate whether stakeholders activating a project shape team building, the structure and magnitude of resource investment levels, and to what extent these levels impact ERP project effectiveness. The process view of an ERP project includes project initiation, system justification and funding, implementation, and early system use. Results from a nationwide empirical survey conducted in Austria (N=88) show that activating actors influence team formation and resource investments, which impact project effectiveness levels. Resource-intensive justification and funding phases tend to precede resource-intensive implementations in heavy-weight projects, which seem to be less effective than light-weight projects. Resource and change conflicts are associated with lower project effectiveness and are more common in resource-intensive ERP projects, where early system use appears to be relatively less stable.     

Do organizational citizenship behaviors lead to information system success?: Testing the mediation effects of integration climate and project management

We adapted a model in organizational theory to determine whether organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) of system implementation teams influenced that organization's integration climate and improved their project management, resulting in successful system implementation. Surveys were elicited from 254 system users in various business organizations that had implemented large-scale IS in the previous year; the analysis of their responses provided support for our model, suggesting that the OCB of the implementation team created a higher level of integration climate and more effective project management, and that these in turn influenced information system success. Implications for researchers and managers are discussed and limitations are identified.     

基于B/S模式的科研项目合作与管理系统的设计与实现

介绍了基于B／S模式的过程工程虚拟研究中心科研项目合作与管理系统的设计和实现方法，包括设计目标、流程模型、权限设计、系统框架、实现功能等，对系统中的技术要点如用户认证、访问权限控制等进行了较详细的阐述。该系统以科研工作为背景，按照项目建立、成员加入、工作计划安排、任务执行、进度监控、项目结束、专家评审为流程，提供科研项目合作交流与管理的网络环境。应用测试表明系统能较好地满足实际应用需求。     

版本管理与代码走查系统设计与实现

为优化软件项目管理,解决软件版本管理混乱、人工代码走查过程负责和结果难于控制的问题,研究了软件版本管理工具和代码走查工具,介绍了版本管理工具和代码走查工具在软件项目管理中应用。根据实践中软件项目管理的需求,提供了一种版本管理工具Subversion与代码走查工具Reviewboard相结合的系统的实现方法,介绍了版本管理工具和代码走查工具的安装部署,给出了一种基于该系统的软件开发应用流程。     

基于PBL模式的《计算机网络》课程实践教学探索

为提高《计算机网络》课程的教学质量,培养学生的主动学习能力、动手实践能力和团队协作能力,将基于项目的学习的教学模式引入实践教学中。在介绍PBL教学模式的基础上,详细阐述把PBL引入《计算机网络》课程实践教学的项目设计原则、教学内容组织以及实施过程。经过四年的实施,学生的动手实践能力和团队协作能力得到显著提高,这不仅为培养应用型和创新型人才奠定扎实基础,而且也满足社会对高素质、应用型人才培养的需求。     

The Process Enactment Tool Framework—Transformation of software process models to prepare enactment

Rich development process models contain information about structures for project organization and also for concrete outcomes of a project. However, rich processes are hard to implement. They often contain hundreds of pages of documentation. Development teams tend to be skeptical about rich processes in fear of additional effort, risking the benefits of rich tool support for enactment. Process enactment is a challenging task. There is no common methodology to quickly “implement” a development process in a tool or a set of tools. Often specialized tools are used to provide assistance during the project and it is the project manager’s task to consolidate the information with the rest of the team.The Process Enactment Tool Framework (PET) is a software tool that supports the transformation of a given formal development process into a format that project tools can work with. PET is an instrument to import processes based on a metamodel and provide exports for a specific project environment. PET takes an input software development process model and transforms it into an intermediate format that serves as the basis for a second transformation step into data formats of tools such as office suites or comprehensive ALM platforms. In this paper we present the tool framework and show how metamodel-based processes can be transformed into an environment that is ready to use for a project team. We show how PET is applied for the German V-Modell XT and for SPEM-based processes to generate, e.g., process templates for the Team Foundation Server or work product document templates.