A consideration of reflexive practice within the critical projects movement

This paper offers a theoretical commentary on some of the new directions in project management theory offered by the critical projects movement. Specifically it examines the implications of a specific approach to knowledge – dialectics – that is implicitly mobilized within this movement. It examines the dialectic provenance of much of this thinking: dialectics is afforded an implicit importance within critical project management as it offers a more reflexive approach to both understand and manage projects. In pursuing this examination, this paper positions the critical projects movement within a broader set of critical studies of reflexive management. We examine how these understandings of reflexivity might inform project management itself and help shed light on some important assumptions that critical project thinkers will need to address whilst using dialectic thinking. The aim is to open up new debates within these modes of thinking, and to encourage further explorations of their implications for understandings of practice amongst those interested in more reflexive approaches to project management practice and research.     

Strategic use of quality function deployment (QFD) in the construction industry

In this paper, an attempt has been made to examine the applicability of QFD as a strategic decision-making tool after the construction stage of a housing project to determine the best marketing strategy, to make a comparison between the performances of different competitors and to transfer the experience gained from the current project to the forthcoming projects. For this purpose, a QFD team has been formed to collect and verify the expectations of the customer profile of the sample project, which was a high-rise building project located in Ankara, Turkey. The case study findings demonstrated that QFD could be successfully applied in the housing projects as a strategic tool to facilitate marketing decisions. As a result of extensive literature review and the case study observations; the paper also points out the limitations and breakthroughs of the QFD methodology. Finally, critical success factors are proposed to improve the performance of the QFD methodology in construction projects.     

How to manage international development (ID) projects successfully. Is the PMD Pro1 Guide going to the right direction?

International Development (ID) projects have turned project failure into a rule rather than an exception. Developed in the 1960's, the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) is the most widespread body of knowledge for managing ID projects. However, LFA has proved to have several liabilities. This paper aims to provide a list of the critical success factors (CSFs) for ID projects. Then, the paper assesses how the LFA and the newly developed PMD Pro1 deal with those CSFs. Results confirm that the LFA presents several drawbacks while the PMD Pro1 appears as a more efficient tool for managing ID projects successfully.     

Institutional projects and contradictory logics: Responding to complexity in institutional field change

We develop a theory of institutional field change with project organizing at its heart by posing the question of how projects contribute to institutional field change. We do this by bringing together recent literature on institutional projects with that on institutional logics and institutional complexity to show how institutional projects can act as vectors of change in institutional fields by offering bounded spaces for working through the implications of institutional complexity. We then explore this contention empirically by examining the implementation of strategic field change in a mature, complex, institutional field. We contribute to theory in project organizing research in four ways. First, we show how projects can be complements to hybrid organizations in fields displaying volatile complexity to achieve institutional field change. Second, we respond to the call to link institutional projects with institutional logics and thereby place project organizing at the heart of change in complex institutional fields; third, we demonstrate how change in the institutional field both shapes and is shaped by interactions across the commercial interface between project owner organizations and project-based firms. Fourth we show how the development of institutional theory in project organizing research depends upon a full theorization of the institutional field in which the project is embedded.     

Implementing the replication strategy in uncertain and complex investment projects

Replication has typically been used as a strategy in chain businesses such as McDonald's where the technology involved is rather simple but it has also been used for very complex technologies where strict quality conditions apply. This paper examines the use of replication when the object of the replication is relatively complex. — i.e. it is neither simple nor very complex. Using a qualitative, embedded single-case study we examine a strategic R&D and capital investment programme aimed at providing a small oil company with first mover advantage in the emerging market for biodiesel. The paper builds on concepts of project capability building, learning and replication and extends previous work which focused on project supplier organisations seeking to deliver similar projects to a range of clients on a repeatable basis by focusing on the efforts of a single client organisation attempting to deliver a series of similar investment projects.     

The dynamics of systems integration: Balancing stability and change on London's Crossrail project

Systems integration is essential for the design and execution of large, complex projects, but relatively little is known about how this task develops over time during the life cycle of a project. This paper builds on the concept of “disciplined flexibility” to describe how systems integration can be conceived as a dynamic process of maintaining stability, while responding flexibly to changing conditions. We examine the dynamics of systems integration through a case-study of Crossrail, the construction of London's new urban railway system, which will be called the Elizabeth Line when it opens for service. The balancing act of stability and change manifests during critical periods of the project life cycle as various interdependent systems evolve with different degrees of maturity. We identify how various types of reciprocal interdependencies in complex projects such as Crossrail – at the system and system of systems levels – require ongoing monitoring and control, and the mutual adjustment of tasks.     

昆明建设工程批后管理信息系统的设计与实现

规划批后管理是规划管理的一项重要内容,本文结合建设工程批后管理流程、挖掘批后管理实际工作中的测绘需求,介绍了如何将建设工程中提供的测绘服务产生的各种测绘成果、资料融合到批后管理流程中,并对系统的设计与具体实现进行叙述和分析。     

The integration of management systems in a council's waste management service

This article details how a council service established an integrated management system (IMS) within a wider corporate framework. In this context, an IMS was used as a tool to improve (i) Performance, (ii) Quality, (iii) Environment, and (iv) Health and Safety Management. A key factor was that the IMS had to be appropriate for accreditation and integratible with an emerging corporate management framework. In this case study, the authors provided a literature review before considering the issues facing the management team in implementing the IMS. Next, the discussion reflected on how the IMS has delivered improvements before concluding with recommendations on how to implement an IMS within similar services. These points of learning may be relevant beyond local government. This article therefore provides a summary of action research and the steps taken to deliver an IMS within a broader context.     

Enhancing value co-creation in professional service projects: The roles of professionals,clients and their effective interactions

Projects are value creation mechanisms for organizations. In this paper, we build on service-dominant logic theory to theorize how value is perceived and co-created by service providers and clients in professional service projects. From two studies, we found that for service providers to create their value, particularly non-monetary value (e.g., enhanced reputation), client values (e.g., solving a business problem) must first be generated. The results further highlight the importance of reciprocal interactions between service providers and their clients in co-creating value for both parties. Service providers' professional knowledge and competence and their clients' levels of professional knowledge and motivation to interact are critical to enable effective interactions. However, the influence of service providers' professional ethics and clients' trust in professionals on project value co-creation is more complex than theoretically predicted. This paper advances the project value creation literature by providing a more holistic view of what value means for different stakeholders, how it is created, and by whom.     

A history of project management models: From pre-models to the standard models

The basis of project management theory includes, as is the case of many management theories an “articulated collection of best practices”, drawn for the most part from the study of major North American engineering projects. There is no history of project management comparable to the ones that have been produced for marketing, accounting or strategic analysis. Very few historians have studied projects as a specific activity and academics in project management are rarely specialists with archives or have familiarity with historical reasoning. Defining the historic trajectory of project management implies specifying the scope of what this history includes beforehand. To write a history of project management we must specify the object of this “historicization”. What are we dealing with when we talk about “history of project management”? A first objective of this paper is to define object and scope of this history. The author suggests a difference between “managerial practices” and “management models” and recommends writing a history of models rather than a history of singular practices. A second objective is to sketch the transition between pre-models of project to the standard North American model.     

The spiritual identity of projects

In this qualitative paper, we discuss the spiritual identity of projects by examining how participants in a project setting develop a deep connection with a project, its purpose and with others, and become inspired into action. We demonstrate how projects can be particularly instrumental in facilitating workplace spirituality, and identify the overarching and perceptually elusive outcomes of experiencing project workplace spirituality at the individual, project team and organizational levels. These outcomes, involving connectedness, well-being, generative self-growth, and leadership strategies suggest that pragmatic organizational attention directed towards the personal and social complexities within projects is of paramount importance. Built on the analysis provided in this paper, we present a conceptual research framework to further explore this project phenomenon.     

Complex project conceptualisation and argument mapping

The conceptualisation of complex projects requires an ability to manage the contradictory claims of stakeholders. Argument mapping provides one means of helping with this problem, offering a scientific mutable mobile or collaborative cartography. It structures what is known from the warrants and rebuttals inherent in what is said. It also offers opportunity to give voice to all stakeholders, thus aligning with and giving acknowledgement to the Australian cultural norm of a ‘fair go’. In this paper we explain why and how argument mapping using Toulmin's model can be used to help project managers conceptualise complex projects. This includes explaining the long association between dialectic argument and knowledge claims, presenting a common pedigree between argument and the philosophy of science. Following that, we explain the means and motive behind putting dialectic arguments into a graphical form. Next, the paper provides an illustration of an argument map drafted to highlight the concepts involved in managing an Australian mining export project. Australian mining projects dependent on the China market need to be aware of the growing geo-political tensions between the US and China. The mapping is used to emerge some planning concepts, providing a means of sense-making or structuring, a complex Australian project.     

How institutional intermediaries handle institutional complexity in vanguard megaproject settings

Infrastructure megaprojects are temporal, complex undertakings that require close coordination between a variety of stakeholders to keep these projects on track. Very often, coordination bottlenecks emerge, particularly on vanguard projects, as parties are unable to agree on how processes and operations should proceed leading to slippages in duration and budget. In this paper we conceptualize these impasses as arising due to contradictions in institutionalized logics relating to work practices used by various organizations on such projects. Using empirical data from two metro rail megaprojects in India, we show that contradictory logics in carrying out work can lead to 'horizontal' or process-based institutional voids, and 'vertical' or role/hierarchy based institutional voids that must be successfully navigated to ensure project progress. We show how freelance expatriates working as consultants on these projects often functioned as institutional entrepreneurs in such settings, using three specific strategies - re-architecting transaction spaces, reinforcing hierarchy, and mediation, to create more and less stable routines that bridged these voids and created a framework for executing work on the project. This paper contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of institutional entrepreneurship and institutional complexity in vanguard infrastructure megaprojects and offers a preliminary process model of how coordination bottlenecks are resolved in such projects.     

Role of boundary objects in negotiations of project contracts

A boundary object is a concept for referring to objects that serve as an interface between different individuals and/or organizations. From this it follows that the aim of this article is to address the question of what sort of role boundary objects play in negotiations of contracts in the project business context. The beginning of the article deals with the notion of the boundary object in general. And after that follows the main content of the article – namely a study of the role of boundary objects in the context of project contract negotiations (technological delivery). The article includes three case examples, and it ends with the conclusion according to which the boundary objects (both institutionalised and non-institutionalised) may play an important role in the courses of complex project contract negotiations.     

A critical argument in favor of theoretical pluralism: Project failure and the many and varied limitations of project management

In project management, failure is often assumed to be evidence of deficient management: a problem that can be overcome by better management. Drawing on qualitative research within UK construction projects we examine how four different theoretical approaches (positivism, structural Marxism, interpretivism and actor–network theory) all challenge this managerial assumption. Each theoretical perspective enables a specific analysis of empirical data that critiques the notion that project failures are easily, simply, or largely, associated with the failure of project management. In so doing, our pluralist analysis reveals the social and political contextualization of performance in project management. We thus conclude by proposing that practitioner and scholarly concerns with project failure (and success), can actively contribute to attempts to reflect upon various matters of political concern as developed within the Making Projects Critical community, and by extension Critical Management Studies. Thus, we propose greater interaction between critical and mainstream project research communities.     

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.     

Identifying and assessing the critical risk factors in an underground rail project in Thailand: a factor analysis approach

Large and complex infrastructure projects involve various risk factors and the successful implementation of such projects depends on effective management of the key risk factors. This paper reviews the literature to identify essential risk variables associated with infrastructure projects. Based on these risk variables, a survey is conducted to isolate and assess the critical risk factors for a mass rapid-transit underground rail project (Chaloem Ratchamongkhon Line), Thailand. Responses obtained within the project organisation are evaluated using principal component analysis to understand the latent structure of the critical risk factors. The variables within the factors are tested to confirm the reliability and validity of the constructs. Finally, nine critical factors with 35 items are extracted after four iterations. Critical risk factors obtained through the factor analysis are assessed to gain better understanding of their importance and impact on project management. The research findings are supported by the perceptions of the senior management within the project organisation, which are also discussed in the paper.     

Inside Intel-coping with complex projects

In this paper, the authors describe how team-based project management processes and metrics enable design teams at Intel to plan, execute and evaluate performance on complex projects, on a quarterly basis     

Complex project management as complex problem solving: A distributed knowledge management perspective

Traditional project management (PM) privileges planning and downplays the role of learning even in more complex projects. In contrast, this paper draws inspiration from two organisations that were found to have developed complex PM expertise as a form of complex problem solving (CPS), a practice with implicit learning because complex projects are unable to be completely specified in advance ( Hayek, 1945). Central to this view of complex project management as a form of complex problem solving is the governance challenge of knowledge management under uncertainty. This paper proposes that the distributed coordination mechanism which both organisations evolved for this contingency can best be characterised as a ‘common will of mutual interest’, a self-organising process that was fostered around project goals and paced by the project life cycle ( Kogut and Zander, 1992). The implications for theory, research, and practice in complex PM knowledge management are examined.