Effect of organisational position and network centrality on project coordination

This study approaches project based coordination from a real-world dataset of complex multi-million dollar projects with hundreds of people working together. Using the Enron dataset provides this study with real-world interactions for exploring the effect of the employee’s organisational position and network centrality on project based coordination. With an understanding of centrality and coordination, we explore whether centrally ‘well-connected’ people are able to exercise greater project based coordination within the network structure. In this study, we explore questions such as–What is the relationship between network centrality and coordination? Which degrees of centrality (i.e., in-degree, out-degree, betweenness, closeness) have higher correlation in project based coordination? Is there a relationship between actors’ organisational position and their network position with the project group?     

Constructing the market position of a project-based firm

Project marketing research has shown that project-based firms (PBFs) can favorably differentiate themselves from their competitors by developing a strong functional position and a strong relational position in a specific market milieu. Combined, these two interrelated positions constitute the market position of a project-based firm, and inter-organizational relationships (IORs) between a PBF and other actors in the milieu play an important role in its development. Active development of IORs to key actors simultaneously increases the effectiveness of the focal PBF in delivering solutions to its customers (functional position) and simultaneously enables it to occupy a stronger position in the milieu linking it to its customers (relational position). We present evidence from an empirical case focusing on how an automation system supplier gradually constructed a strong market position in the Russian oil and gas industry.     

The interplay of formal integrative mechanisms and relational norms in project collaboration

Collaboration can bring multiple benefits to projects. Real collaboration appears, however, complex to implement. So far, there is no scientific agreement on the importance of the formal and relational (behavioural) sides of project collaboration. Through a qualitative study of two collaborating teams in large engineering and construction projects we uncover the roles of these two sides of collaboration and analyse their interplay. We find that relational and formal aspects of collaboration are complementary, yet each has a distinct role. The formal integrative mechanisms provide an arena for relational norms to be established, and for collaborative behaviours to be practiced and implemented. Relational norms transform traditional project management activities into collaborative, integrative ones. We advance theory of collaboration by offering a holistic and at the same time fine-grained view on it, and stress that project teams need to pay equal attention to both formal and relational sides for collaboration to succeed.     

Project managers and career models: An exploratory comparative study

Prior research has paid little attention to the careers and career models of project managers. This is troublesome for at least two reasons. First, project managers are becoming an increasingly important category of managers and today they constitute a major part of many organizations' leadership capability. Second, traditional literature on careers generally does not address project-based careers as a specific case in point, although this kind of career is unique in the sense that it is based on temporary assignments and lack of formal positions. The research presented in this paper identifies and explains patterns of similarities and differences among applied career models in ten large, mature project-intensive firms in Sweden. The paper identifies a number of factors that seem to be critical for the design of career models for project managers, including the number of levels, the complexity of assignments, and the degree of formal requirements. The paper also outlines two archetypes of career models applied by the firms under study: the competence strategy model and the talent management model.     

面向实施管理的城市设计项目库研究

城市设计作为干预城市空间发展的技术手段,对城市建设过程的调控具有实质性作用.以城市设计项目的视角探讨城市设计实施机制的创新,通过城市设计项目库的构建、运行维护和动态调整,强化对各类城市设计项目的集中统一管理.以城市设计项目库为载体,将城市设计所提出的战略构想和发展目标转化为实际的建设任务,在计划、组织、协调、控制等方面采取系统性办法对项目库中不同类型、不同层级和不同特征的项目实施进行统筹协调与有效控制,进而提高城市设计实施的可操作性.     

公共项目治理评价的定量化研究

公共项目治理理论的研究取得了长足进步,已经发展到亟需解决定量化研究及模型化分析的阶段。通过对主流治理理论中治理评价研究的理论和方法的梳理,发现开展对公共项目治理评价研究是解决公共项目治理理论定量化、模型化分析的关键。公共项目作为一个临时性社会网络组织,其治理情境中除了正式契约治理之外大量的非正式关系治理机制发挥着重要作用,因此,将契约治理和关系治理共同纳入公共项目治理评价的研究框架,构建公共项目治理绩效作为中间理论变量,从而明确公共项目治理的内涵,建立能够对公共项目治理绩效与实现程度进行衡量的标准,为后续治理水平评价的定量化、模型化研究提供治理核心要素及可测度的评价指标。公共项目治理绩效测量的研究将会促使后续公共项目治理水平评价等对策性问题迎刃而解。     

Design team meetings and the coordination of expertise: the roof garden of a hospital

The coordination of work and expertise in construction projects is often treated in terms of models or formal rules. However, much is to be gained, if we are to understand it, by examining actual coordination practices. The objective in this article is to address practices of coordination of expertise in the context of design team meetings. The focus is specifically on conversational practices between the structural engineer and the landscape architect who are part of the design team in a healthcare infrastructure project. The central argument is that the coordination of expertise relied on and was organized by mundane and everyday methods, and not by formal and abstract ones. This argument is drawn from ethnomethodology, a form of sociological analysis that focuses on the situated methods by which activities are produced, but shares concerns found in the literature on actual project management practices. The ethnomethodological stance, however, offers a different perspective on the significance of the empirical reality of projects and a possibility to incorporate within this literature a concern with the ordinary methodical organization of project activities.     

Interplay of relational and contractual governance in public-private partnerships: The mediating role of relational norms,trust and partners' contribution

Defining the nature of the relationship between contractual and relational governance is critical for understanding how to maintain commitment and coordination between private and public organizations in long-term partnerships. In this study, a theoretical model explains Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project performance as the result of a mediation process. Contractual and relational governance elements operate sequentially with relational elements (relational norms and trust), playing a mediating role between contractual elements, project actors' behaviour and final performance. Based on the analysis of a survey of PPP practitioners in The Netherlands, and using Consistent Partial Least Squares Modeling, the study provides empirical support for these mediating effects. The findings are aligned with the idea that both economic incentives and hierarchical relationships formalized in contract agreements require being internalized in working practices by means of informal and socially based mechanisms. The enabling and compensating mechanisms underlying the mediation role of relational governance elements are discussed. Managers can particularly find in relational norms a leverage point for designing collaborative day-to-day practices aimed at reinforcing trust and long-term contractual obligations.     

港区工程项目管理的组织模式与运行控制

总结了上海外高桥港区建设项目管理在目标控制、投标控制、招标采购、征地动迁等方面的经验和教训,探索大型城市基础设施项目管理的一般规律和方法,为相关建设项目的组织管理提供有益的参考.     

Dual dynamics: Project-based institutional work and subfield differences in the Dutch construction industry

This article examines how actors use relational institutional work in inter-organizational projects (IOPs) to mobilize key stakeholders from two loosely coupled subfields with the aim to institutionalize a new project delivery method with new underlying practices. In our longitudinal case study in a project-based business, in this case the Dutch construction industry, we identified three types of relational institutional work: awareness creation, selective networking, and coalition building. We found that institutional work was relatively effective in the co-supplier subfield and less effective in the architectural subfield. We explain this by zooming in on the differences between these two subfields on three interrelated dimensions that manifested themselves in institutional IOPs: nature of activities, social positions, and coopetition. Our study connects the literature on IOPs with developments in institutional theory and further advances the institutional project management literature.     

武汉天河机场高架桥工程进度优化

武汉天河机场高架桥工程为武汉天河机场航站楼的门前交通工程.在工程实施中采取产学研结合,对网络计划技术和关键链技术进行融合研究,建立工序时间估计新模型;应用MS Project建立初始网络优化,在此基础上融合关键链管理思想,依次进行时间、时间.资源、时间一费用优化,最终形成符合实际的网络优化.解决了关键工序延误和关键路径频繁调整问题,保证了工程工期.     

Unraveling local relationship patterns in project networks: A network motif approach

Characterizing relationship patterns among organizations in project networks has become a hot issue in the emerging field of project network management. Many researchers focus on social network centralities (e.g. degree, betweenness, and closeness) and global network measures (e.g., network density, degree distribution, and clustering coefficient) to investigate the relationship patterns in project networks. However, little is known about the local relationship patterns, i.e., relational structures among a small number of project organizations. In this paper, we will construct the contractors’ collaboration networks by mapping collaborative relationships between hundreds of contractors within the electronic database of National Quality Award Projects (NQAP) of China. The research purpose is to make use of the normative network motif approach in characterizing the local relationship patterns of project networks and in demonstrating how such relationship patterns evolve, thus contributing to the field of project network research. We find two distinct types of local collaboration patterns, i.e., motif and antimotif in the NQAP collaboration network. The motifs are the evolutionary favored patterns induced by macro network clustering tendency and individual structural embeddedness. Moreover, the evolution of the NQAP collaboration network shows a phase transition characterized by the distribution of the local collaboration patterns. The motif approach is expected to help project organizations devise appropriate strategies to select partners as well as to help governors establish effective strategies of project network governance.     

Obsessive passion,competence, and performance in a project management context

Obsessive passion is when people have a strong inclination toward an activity that they like, find important, and in which they spend significant time, but also feel internal pressure to engage in. Prior research has demonstrated that obsessive passion typically brings several negative consequences. The present study nuances the picture by showing that there are indeed conditions when obsessive passion can be beneficial and that it has an important role for project management. It develops and tests hypotheses on the role of project leaders' obsessive passion for project goals. Results support that challenging goals are attained to a greater extent if the project leader scores high on obsessive passion. Such obsessive passion, in turn, is a result of the project leader's competence (positive relationship) and the team's competence (inverted U-shaped relationship). These results have important implications for theory and future research on passion, goal theory, and competence in projects.     

Analysing construction project coalitions: exploring the application of social network analysis

The construction industry is currently in transition as a result of innovations in procurement and project management approaches, in particular, the utilization of supply chain management, and technology or work clusters in the context of partnering relationships between project coalition actors and the client organization. These new strategies require an analytical method that deals with actor interdependence and provides an appropriate level of detail and quantitative data in relation to the non‐linear, complex, iterative and interactive process that construction projects comprise. The construction project is conceptualized as a number information exchange networks, classified according to the principal project functions and supported by performance incentive and contractual relationship networks. The point centrality of the project actors within these various networks provides quantitative data and graphical representation of the governance of construction projects and the changes brought about by innovations in procurement and project management techniques. Social network analysis (SNA) provides an important new quantitative approach in the comparative analysis of procurement and project management of construction projects. SNA enables traditional project coalition management approaches to be compared with those associated with innovative management approaches. Quantitative analysis relates to the appropriateness and effectiveness of both financial incentives and contractual conditions involved in the governance of construction projects.     

The motives system for developing project-based inter-organizational cooperation

Despite the importance of motives in driving cooperation formation, project management literature lacks an inclusive and systematic framework to recognize the motives for project-based inter-organizational cooperation (PIOC). PIOC that arises when inter-organizational cooperation and inter-organizational project collaboration fuse is a new form of inter-organizational relationships. By combing interview data with the theoretical framework based on prior literature, the current paper constructed a conceptual model of the motives system for PIOC, including five groups of motives related to project performance, organizational benefits, project risks, organizational risks, and relational motives. A typology of PIOC was proposed consisting of four types classified on the actors’ relative positions in the value chain and roles in the project. Differences in motives between PIOC types and differences in strength between motives themselves were discussed in light of empirical examples. This study contributes a syatematic perspective on recognizing the cooperation motives. It suggests future research to focus on the motives’ differences among various cooperation contexts due to the lack of theoretical support for these differences found in this paper.     

Exploring the roles of portfolio steering committees in project portfolio governance

Governing project portfolios engages different actors in organizations including portfolio managers, portfolio officers, top managers, and others who may team up as portfolio steering committees. While portfolio steering committees play a regular role in project portfolio governance, their role is still unclear. Through an in-depth multiple case study in three Danish companies, the roles of portfolio steering committees were explored. The results showed that portfolio committees may play three distinct roles in portfolio governance: a) communication and consolidation role, b) negotiation role, and c) decision making role. The results challenged the notion that portfolio committee meetings are the place and time to make collective decisions on the portfolio, rather, portfolio steering committees might unintentionally become or intentionally be used for other purposes than decision making. The empirical evidence of the study proposes that these three roles might be related to two governance design factors: frequency and duration of committee meetings.     

Structural and spatial characteristics of personal actor networks: The case of industries for the elderly in Korea*

This paper studies the relationship between geography and dynamics of network in the evolutionary process of a newly emerging industry. Core actors are well connected with one another through policy‐related project networks, as well as temporary clusters, such as trade fairs, conventions, and seminars. Although geographical proximity is not significantly related to the occurrence of co‐operation between individuals, position of an actor in the network is significantly related to his/her geographical reach. Despite the importance of other industrial network in the Capital Region, actors in non‐Capital Regions played important positions in the networks and assumed key roles in institutional‐building processes. Resumen. Este artículo estudia la relación entre la geografía y las dinámicas de red en el proceso evolutivo de una nueva industria emergente. Los actores esenciales están bien conectados entre sí mediante redes de proyectos relacionados con políticas, así como por conglomerados temporales como ferias de exposiciones, convenciones y seminarios. Aunque no hay una relación significativa entre la proximidad geográfica y la aparición de una cooperación entre individuos, la posición de un actor en la red está relacionada significativamente con su alcance geográfico. A pesar de la importancia de otras redes industriales en la región capital, los actores del resto de regiones ocuparon posiciones importantes en las redes y asumieron papeles clave en procesos de desarrollo institucional.      

In search of 'project chemistry'

The paper aims to provide a language and a conceptual toolkit to deepen our understanding of the impact of relational and social issues on the success of construction projects. Building on several streams of literature, as well as on individual and group interviews with construction practitioners, the paper develops the notion of ‘project chemistry’ as a way of capturing some of the relational and behavioural dimensions and factors that may affect project success and effectiveness in construction. The paper introduces a provisional theoretical framework that (a) identifies a number of external and project level determinants of ‘project chemistry’, (b) suggests ways of measuring how and how well people interact, perceive, and work together in a project, and (c) relates these issues to broader economic and technical factors. The paper concludes with some reflections on the implications and challenges for future research and management practices raised by the notion of ‘project chemistry’.     

Understanding the soft side of software projects: An empirical study on the interactive effects of social skills and political skills on complexity – performance relationship

While prior research considers project complexity as a double-edged sword, researchers and practitioners still remain unclear whether project complexity serves as productive or counterproductive ingredient for project performance. Our research brings clarity on the dynamic nature of complexity-performance relationship by integrating social exchange theory with recent developments in project management research to develop and test a novel framework involving interactive roles of social skills and political skills in software-projects. Regardless of calls for further empirical studies, researchers have predominantly neglected the fundamental role of human efforts and human interaction in outlining performance particularly in complex projects. Drawing on a survey based sample of 242 project managers and use of variance based structural equation modeling, the findings illuminate theoretical and practical contributions in better understanding complexities in software-projects performance. In addition, prioritizing human-centric factors i.e. social skills and political skills in supporting complexity- performance relationship further enhances contributions of this research.     

规划项目协同管理的价值和意义

项目协同即协同规划信息服务系统,是一个无缝整合管理信息系统和地理信息系统的技术,能搭建规划项目数据和技术共享的平台.项目协同对于项目管理的重要意义是:可以加速信息共享,汇集各方智慧,强化分工合作,保障信息完备,确保数据安全,创造新价值.