Editorial

Citation

Walker, D.H.T. (2012), "Editorial", International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 5 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijmpb.2012.35305caa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Volume 5, Issue 3

From the Editor

Derek H.T. Walker, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, e-mail: derek.walker@rmit.edu.au

About this issue

This third issue for 2012, Volume 5 comprises ten papers, three regular papers and seven papers in a special issue “How do you do? On situating old project sites through practice-based studies” guest edited by Markus Hällgren from Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE) and Marcus Lindahl from Uppsala University (USBE), Sweden. It is an honour to have these contributions. Sweden is a centre of PM excellence in research and scholarship that has provided many valuable contributions to this and other PM journals. They provide a guest editorial that explains the theme, papers and contributions to PM knowledge that this represents.

The special is supplemented by three additional regular papers. The first regular paper entitled “Exploration, project evaluation and design theory: a rereading of the Manhattan case” by Sylvain Lenfle from the University of Cergy-Pontoise – Economics and Management, France. This paper provides a fascinating re-evaluation of one of the most famous cases of vanguard exploratory projects in terms innovation, technological advancement and PM advances (with a focus on a project’s journey in terms of product/concept/knowledge) contributed by the Manhattan project that, during the Second World War, resulted in the development of the atomic bomb.

The second regular paper is entitled “Investing in project management training: evidence supporting the need for a more strategic approach ” by Bill Egginton from Cranfield University – Management and Security Defence Academy Swindon, UK. This paper reports on and provides analysis of a longitudinal educational evaluation study. He adopts an integrative epistemology and mixed data collection methods over a 12 month period to follow “apprentice practitioners” as they transitioned from the classroom to project related roles. The paper presents evidence that suggests the effectiveness of the significant investment that is made by organisations and individuals in PM training may be challenged because the underlying assumption that “more is better” is flawed. He advocates a new approach with the team as the “unit of learning”. He found that factors beyond the control and influence of the individual conspire to hinder their realisation of benefits from training investment. He argues that there are clear benefits from traditional training for “apprentice” practitioners that include learning the “PM language” and related skills. However, to go beyond that requires a more strategic approach to people development.

The third regular issue contribution, a practitioner viewpoint paper, is entitled “Towards a holding environment: building shared understanding and commitment in projects ” by Kailash Awati from Boehringer-Ingelheim Pty Ltd – Information Systems in North Ryde, NSW, Australian and Paul Culmsee from Seven Sigma Business Solutions, Perth, Western Australia. This paper presents a perspective on how to build a shared understanding of project goals and a shared commitment to achieving them. One of the ways to achieve shared understanding is through open dialogue, free from political and other constraints. They call an environment which fosters such dialogue a holding environment. Their main aim is to illustrate, via a case study:

1. 1.

   How an alliance-based approach to projects can foster a holding environment.

2. 2.

   The use of argument visualisation tools such as the issue-based information system (IBIS) (Selvin et al., 2010; Awati, 2011) to clarify different points of view and options within such an environment. This is an important paper dealing with communications and relationship building in projects, particularly for alliance projects.

The next issue for Volume 5 will also include a special issue supplemented by selected regular papers so that readers can gain a bonus from previous volumes by having additional papers to read and absorb and a have both access to the special themes as well as benefit from contributions of regular papers.

Derek H.T. Walker