Learning and teaching challenges in project management

This paper seeks to examine how considerations of future pedagogy will impact on the student experience. This examination utilises data gathered from a survey of students studying project management. The data are analysed using CATPCA in order to establish the key components of students' experiences. Overall, two key components emerged from the data (representing students' perceptions of what is significant in their project management learning experiences). The first component, transferable skills, addresses parameters such as interpersonal skills, time management, curriculum coherence, critical thinking and communicating. The second component is virtual learning which includes the quality of e-resources and how relevant and accessible information is managed online. We conclude that the effective use of virtual learning environments is more crucial for students who are less skilful at managing their studies independently. This study brings an important contribution to literature on teaching and learning project management as traditionally studies have either focused on teaching and learning (within project management) or students' experiences relating to pedagogic factors generally. What research has not done is link these two concepts together.     

Facilitating project management education through groups as systems

Project management education is currently facing several challenges to help people deal more effectively with the complexities of their future work. Students' exposure to ‘real’ project situations in which they can use, develop, and reflect on their skills as well as learn from each other has become essential and in need of further improvements. This paper presents a group-based approach to project management education which uses the notion of a ‘group’ as a system in order to develop students' individual awareness of and abilities to deal with both expected and unexpected project situations. The approach aims at nurturing and fostering students' involvement in project situations whilst challenging them to go beyond their own learning comfort zones. Reflections from our experience of using this approach in several courses in UK higher education institutions lead us to identify its benefits, different strategies that students use to respond to challenges, and new possibilities to continue improving project management education.     

Analysis of architects' demotivating factors in design firms

The overall aim of this study is to identify factors that influence architects' demotivation in design firms. After a review of extant literatures in design management, project management, and organisational behaviour, a list of 43 demotivating criteria was produced and used in a questionnaire survey. Analyses included reliability analysis, Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests, demotivation severity index (DSI) computation and exploratory factor analysis. Results show an underlying factor structure of seven demotivating factors that include ‘organisational injustice’, ‘project induced stress’, ‘dysfunctional design team’, ‘poor interpersonal relationships’, ‘perceived career decline’, ‘negative leadership behaviours’ and ‘poor organisational culture’. Comparing these demotivational factors with motivational factors identified from previous related research, this study confirms that demotivation and motivation are on the same pole. In addition, what causes motivation or demotivation is a function of individual frame of reference. This implies that the presence or absence of a factor might cause motivation or demotivation depending on an individual frame of reference. Positive attention to the identified factors in relation to individual personality differences therefore helps to remove impediments that could affect employees' well-being such as being downcast, dispirited, depressed and despondent. The study would help directors and managers of design firms to develop a healthy workforce through recognition and eradication of the identified demotivating factors using some of the suggested solutions.     

Deliberate ignorance in project risk management

The management of project risk is considered a key discipline by most organisations involved in projects. Best practice project risk management processes are claimed to be self-evidently correct. However, project risk management involves a choice between which information is utilized and which is deemed to be irrelevant and hence excluded. Little research has been carried out to ascertain the manifestation of barriers to optimal project risk management such as ‘irrelevance’; the deliberate inattention of risk actors to risk. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study of IT project managers, investigating their reasons for deeming certain known risks to be irrelevant. The results both confirm and expand on Smithson’s [Smithson, M., 1989. Ignorance and Uncertainty. Springer-Verlag, New York] taxonomy of ignorance and uncertainty and in particular offer further context related insights into the phenomenon of ‘irrelevance’ in project risk management. We suggest that coping with ‘irrelevance’ requires defence mechanisms, the effective management of relevance as well as the setting of, and sticking to priorities.     

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.     

Getting control of multi-project organizations: Combining contingent control mechanisms

The literature on management control has expanded considerably in the past few decades, yet only a limited number of publications have been devoted to multi-project organizations (MPOs). This is somewhat a problem given the increasing rise and importance of project-based structures and the role of project management as a significant part of many firms' management control system. This paper elaborates on a contingency framework of management control in MPOs and aims at investigating the control issues that call for holistic frameworks of control mechanisms. Relying on a comparative case study, the analysis shows how control mechanisms are deployed and what implications different choices of management control systems have on the organizational structure of MPOs. In particular, the paper addresses the importance technical complementarities, and the role of ‘project interdependencies’ and ‘project openness’ for the design of management control system.     

Project management learning: Key dimensions and saliency from student experiences

Drawing upon literature, this study seeks to understand what the key dimensions of student experiences of project management learning are and what saliences students attach to such dimensions. Data is obtained from a sample of management and engineering students studying project management across four universities in the United Kingdom. We employ multidimensional scaling to extract the salience placed by students on the key dimensions. The results of the data analysis suggest that there are six dimensions of student experiences of project management. We also find that students attach markedly different levels of salience to these dimensions based on a number of demographic factors. More specifically, in terms of salience, we found that gender had the strongest relationship while prior experience of project management had the weakest. The implications of our findings are discussed from the perspective of andragogical congruence (compatibility) in teaching and learning.     

Performers, trackers, lemmings and the lost: Sustained false optimism in forecasting project outcomes — Evidence from a quasi-experiment

The consistently successful delivery of projects remains an ambition that many organisations do not achieve. Whilst the reasons behind project failure are many, one recognised factor is the ‘planning fallacy’ – over-optimism in the planning phase of a project. Whilst the planning phase of a project may be a battle for acceptance and resource allocation, the execution phase is a battle for delivery. Based on both qualitative and quantitative data gathered from a project management simulation, this study set out to establish whether optimism bias persists beyond the planning phase and into the execution phase, and, if so, to explore the reasons why. The results confirm the extent and impact of optimism bias in initial project planning. More importantly, the contribution of this study is to demonstrate on-going or sustained false optimism.     

基于学习动机激发理论的建设法规课程案例教学研究

建设法规课程案例教学法在高校土木工程、工程管理及工程造价等专业教学中应用较为广泛。该方法有一定的优势,但在实际应用中,由于有些案例选取不当,不能充分激发学生学习动机。文章根据学习动机激发理论,结合建设法规课程特点,设计建设法规课程案例教学的具体方式,以调动学生学习的主动性和积极性。     

Succeeding programmes,failed projects: A lexicographical analysis of a disputed semantic terrain

This paper proposes that projects and programmes can be empirically distinguished by the way in which they are associated with expectations and evaluations of success and failure. Support for the proposition is grounded in analysis of over sixteen hundred examples of occurrences of the terms ‘project’ and ‘programme’ with ‘success’ and ‘failure’ derived from the Oxford English Corpus (OEC). The OEC is a structured and coded database of over two billion words of naturally occurring English collected from the World Wide Web. The analysis highlights that project and programme are each modified by the terms ‘success’ and ‘failure’ in significantly different ways, indicating that they are conceptually distinct phenomena. These findings imply that academics must be cautious in their use of language in investigations of project and programme evaluations, and that practitioners should consider the implications of considering programmes as ‘scaled‐up’ projects, given their propensity to different evaluation outcomes.     

基于问题的学习方法在土木工程教学中的应用

针对土木工程师职业所需的自主学习技能、创新思维、沟通技巧、团队合作以及社会知识在现有的课程体系中体现较少的现状,对基于问题的学习方法应用于土木工程教学中的可行性及教学程序进行了介绍,并通过实际教学案例探讨了基于问题的学习方法的应用效果。     

问题式学习法在土木工程材料开放性实验教学中的应用

文章在反思传统实验教学的基础上,对问题式学习法在土木工程材料开放性实验课程教学中的应用进行了探索。实践表明,这一教学方法有利于调动学生的学习积极性,培养学生的自主学习能力、创新思维、协调沟通能力、团队合作以及项目管理能力。     

Transition regions: Regional-national eco-innovation systems and strategies

The key phenomenon around which the paper is constructed, given its core interest in the transition from a fossil fuels energy regime to a zero emissions and/or renewable energy regime (sometimes also ‘post-hydrocarbons’ regime; Smith, 2008), is the notion and explanation of ‘transition regions’. These are sub-national territories, usually with some degree of devolved governance in the fields of innovation, economic development and energy that, for reasons to be demonstrated, act as regional ‘lighthouses’ for eco-innovation both to other regions and countries. These are the places that are subject to ‘learning visits’ by global policy-makers and other interested parties eager to learn how success was achieved. Because regions differ within state-systems, the case material is presented according to three kinds of political model. These are, first, the liberal market model, notably north America and the UK; second is the co-ordinated market model such as Germany and some Nordic countries; and third hybrids which have a reasonably entrepreneurial economic climate typical of the ‘liberal market’ model but strong welfare states, more typical of the ‘co-ordinated market’ model such as Denmark, a small state, and China, a large one. Finally, each of six cases will be presented in the sequence of the ‘system’ and regional governance of ‘transition regions’ first, with the nature and role of the national eco-innovation regime summarised afterwards where top-down governmental influence is clearly visible, even weakly. Also eco-innovations that are broadly in the same field, such as renewable energy production, or electric vehicle consumption are studied, giving maximum comparative value from their emergence in different countries and regions.     

Project risk: Theoretical concepts and stakeholders' perspectives

Past empirical studies on risk conceptions in general management of developed countries provide compelling evidence to the discrepancy between practitioners' perspectives on ‘risk’ and the principles of the normative decision theory on which risk analysis tools are based. This study provides a similar investigation for a specific context of project management within a developing country setting. It aims at identifying stakeholders' perspectives on project risks in Indonesia and comparing them against assumptions of rational, normative theories and past findings from general management in developed countries. Two separate cross-sectional surveys were carried out with respondents composed of project contractors (n = 96, response rate = 38.4%) and clients (n = 99, rate = 69.7%), respectively. Empirical results identify significant gaps of risk-related concepts between project stakeholders' perspectives and the rational assumptions of the normative decision theories. For instance, risk is widely viewed by practitioners from the negative domain while the rational theory would suggest a more neutral perspective of risk. The pattern of findings is similar to those from previous empirical studies of developed countries within a general management context.     

Fatigue behaviour of a PET-Geogrid under cyclic loading

The lines of ‘damage-begin’ and ‘specimen-break’ for dynamic loading of a geogrid were determined in a series of laboratory testing. The cyclic load ratio was set to R = 0.5, loading frequency f = 10 Hz and f = 3 Hz. The test results show clearly that the chosen procedure for the determination and analysis of the beginning of damage and break is reproducible and allow for safe extrapolation for lower load levels. Furthermore the method chosen enables explicit decrease of the required testing time. The assumption of linear damage accumulation was examined in two-step-trials. The number of load cycles to ‘break’ evaluated in ‘one-step-tests’ compared with those of ‘two-step-loading’ are practically the same. The existence of ‘damage-lines’ for the examined geogrid under a dynamic pulsating load of 10 Hz and 3 Hz and a R-value of 0.5 could be verified. Damage of the specimens occurs only for load-cycles lying between the ‘damage-line’ and the ‘stress-cycle-diagram’ (‘Woehler-curve’). When it comes to dimensioning against ‘damage-beginning’ or ‘break’, higher loading frequencies present the critical case.     

Knowledge entrainment and project management: The case of large-scale transformation projects

An increasing number of change processes and initiatives are organized and implemented as projects, often through the formation of ‘large-scale transformation projects’ (LST), involving a great number of specialists, departments, partners, development work, and knowledge bases. The theoretical foundation that supports the choice of managing change as projects and, in effect, the role of project management has received surprisingly little attention in the current literature. In this paper, we present a model where the success of change initiatives is explained by the quality of project management, which in turn is determined by the quality of knowledge integration. The outlined model highlights knowledge integration as a process determined by the scope and speed of change, which typically result in problems with synchronization of activities within an LST project. Our model draws on the idea of ‘knowledge entrainment’ to explain the fact that different parts (organizations, teams, individuals) tend to develop different time orientations and hence rely on different cycles of knowledge processes. This has important effects on the absorptive capacity of the involved parts of the project and the amount of information and knowledge that the project can digest. This paper discusses different knowledge-entrainment mechanisms and their effects on the role and practice of project management. Empirical data from an LST project in Posten, one of Northern Europe’s largest messaging and logistics operators, illustrate the model. The paper contributes to the analysis of the relationships between knowledge integration and time, particularly in LST projects.     

“双创教育”背景下景观设计专题课程TDC教学模式探讨——以厦门大学嘉庚学院景观设计专题课程为例

立足于创新创业教育新常态背景,剖析新时代社会环境对学生主动学习所带来的影响。以风景园林专业教育为例,立足于培养学生正确的专业观,探讨建筑类院校中景观设计专题的TDC教学模式,提出“理论—设计—营造”三位一体教学模式,以期让学生以更加积极的心态参与学习、融入学习,并引入不同领域的教学资源,让学生掌握“创新创业”技能。     

基于网络教学平台的多维互动教学体系探索与实践——以城乡规划管理与法规课程为例

城乡规划管理与法规是城乡规划学科的专业核心课程之一。由于课程本身具有知识点庞杂、内容抽象的特点加之传统教学中普遍采用以教师为主体的课堂灌输式教学方法,使学生对该门课程的学习兴趣较低,学习效果较差,学生的管理知识、管理思维和管理能力均未得到良好的培养。为满足信息化时代学生学习和沟通的新趋势,在教学中尝试运用基于网络教学平台构建的多维互动教学体系。该教学体系贯穿课前、课堂和课后三个教学环节,以提高学生的互动参与为出发点,采用指导自学法、案例研究法、研讨会、情景模拟和实地调研等多种教学方法,充分发挥学生的主体地位,不仅提高了学生的学习兴趣,也使学生分析问题、解决问题、团队合作和口头表达等综合能力得到了锻炼。     

Estimating municipal solid waste generation by different activities and various resident groups: a case study of Beijing

Reliable and accurate determinations of the quantities and composition of wastes is required for the planning of municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems. A model, based on the interrelationships of expenditure on consumer goods, time distribution, daily activities, residents groups, and waste generation, was developed and employed to estimate MSW generation by different activities and resident groups in Beijing. The principle is that MSW is produced by consumption of consumer goods by residents in their daily activities: ‘Maintenance’ (meeting the basic needs of food, housing and personal care), ‘Subsistence’ (providing the financial requirements) and ‘Leisure’ (social and recreational pursuits) activities. Three series of important parameters - waste generation per unit of consumer expenditure, consumer expenditure distribution to activities in unit time, and time assignment to activities by different resident groups - were determined using a statistical analysis, a sampling survey and the Analytic Hierarchy Process, respectively. Data for analysis were obtained from the Beijing Statistical Yearbook (2004-2008) and questionnaire survey. The results reveal that ‘Maintenance’ activity produced the most MSW, distantly followed by ‘Leisure’ and ‘Subsistence’ activities. In 2008, in descending order of MSW generation the different resident groups were floating population, non-civil servants, retired people, civil servants, college students (including both undergraduates and graduates), primary and secondary students, and preschoolers. The new estimation model, which was successful in fitting waste generation by different activities and resident groups over the investigated years, was amenable to MSW prediction.     

Project training evaluation: Reshaping boundary objects and assumptions

Training evaluation is an important component of personal development which has received insufficient attention by project managers, members of project teams and their organisations, making training a target for cut-back at times of tightening budgets. Assessing training has historically been operationally oriented, emphasising financial justification, content and quality of the training rather than the potential of improved project performance or organisational transformation. This qualitative, multi-case study demonstrates the limitations of normative boundary objects (the processes, artefacts, documents or technical language or vocabulary in common use within the project community) such as ‘best practise’ models and ‘bodies of knowledge’ as the driver and basis for training. The paper proposes using alternate boundary objects to incorporate reflective practises which can increase the utilisation of learning by embedding it in specific contexts. Study findings are of relevance to project workers by helping them think differently about the purpose and outcome of training attendance, and for managers charged with developing the project and programme talent pool within the organisation.