Search results

Project management is of growing importance as bureaucratic organisations pass through transition to be more flexible “network organisations”. Work is increasingly undertaken by groups and teams, and the focus of assessment shifts from input to output. In certain sectors, companies are coming to resemble portfolios of projects. This article considers a survey of the role and status of project management undertaken by Adaptation Ltd, for the Association of Project Managers. It concludes that project management requires distinct skills and competencies and that these will need to be developed by an increasing number of managers.

Draws on the experiences of the author working in various project management positions to illustrate the application of TQM to the process of modern project management. Provides guidance on the application of five fundamental quality principles in project management. Emphasizes that a focus on customer requirements is essential.Charts the journey organizations and project managers may take in implementing quality project management.

Notes that the project management approach has enjoyed growing acceptance by a wide variety of businesses and organizations over the past 20 years or so. Emphasizes the usefulness of training in the basics of project management to management training and team development. Following a brief description of project management, discusses implementation factors to facilitate the successful implementation of this approach in the workplace and the expected benefits. Describes a sample of basic management techniques and tools for the planning and controlling of projects. Concludes that managers and trainers can readily see that adopting project management can be done with minimal disruption to the workplace and that the costs of adopting project management are relatively small compared with the potential benefits in terms of improved individual and team efficiency and productivity, high standards of work quality, and reduced employee stress and conflict in teamworking among other benefits.

The paper describes the results of an exploratory study of the application of programme management in six companies. A classification of programmes developed may help in understanding the differences between programmes and the managerial impact of these differences. The research shows that the formalised and rigorous approach as described in most programme management handbooks is not widely adopted. The cases show less centralisation, less formalisation and less management of the interdependencies between the projects in the programme than one would expect on the basis of the programme management literature. This is especially the case in programmes that originate as a grouping of a set of existing projects. Yet, formalisation is mentioned as the main success factor in managing programmes.

THE aviation and aerospace industry has always been characterised by highly complex, even high risk undertakings. The outcome of these undertakings, or projects, is dependent on the availability of money, manpower, materials and time. Predicting the way in which these various factors interact requires powerful management tools and, for many years, the aircraft engineering and aerospace industry has used computerised planning and control systems. The most profusely used software tool is Artemis which accounts for 40% of the project management software systems in use throughout the world. Artemis was developed and marketed by Metier Management Systems, a former Lockheed company. The company is now a division of Lucas Industries plc and trades as Lucas Management Systems. Lucas is the first to point out, however, that effective project management does not end with acquisition of an appropriate software tool. Equally important is creating the right organisational structure in which project managers and all those participating in a project can perform most effectively. This is why Lucas has employed Dennis Archibald, not to sell project management systems but to educate all management levels in the discipline and methods of project management. In this article Dennis Archibald, who first encountered project management techniques as an RAF officer in the early 1970's, explains the importance of understanding project management methodologies, irrespective of the software tools which may be either in use or under consideration.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers comprising a special issue of the journal. The central theme of this special issue is “Projects and organisations: adding rungs to the ladder of understanding project management and its relationship with the organisation”. It is dedicated to research that explores and proposes different avenues to contribute to the development of the field of project management from this perspective of projects and organisations.

The Guest Editors solicited academics and collaborators of the Project Management Research Chair at the École des sciences de la gestion, Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG UQAM). Following a call for papers, five were selected that underwent a double‐blind peer‐review process.

The five selected articles each provide unique perspectives and insights. Viewed as a set, their contributions view projects and organisations from three main perspectives: project management governance issues; management of innovative and IT projects; and processes, practices and tools. The set brings new empirical data, ideas and theoretical frameworks to bear that justify the extension of the current project management paradigm, and suggest that project management be viewed as a critical function of the organisation.

The set of papers encourages scholars to continue to examine organisational concerns related to project management with the goal of explaining and enhancing important relationships among organisational phenomena and the project management field.

By bringing this special issue together, the Editor played an important role in adding rungs to the ladder of understanding project management and its relationship with the organisation.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the need for organizations to synchronize the development of the complete project management system.

The paper concentrates on the three key areas of development for the project management system, “what we do”, “when we do it” and “how we do it”. The paper further looks at these key elements in conjunction with an organization's project management maturity, defines the typical components of the project management system and how organizations can measure improved project management effectiveness to their bottom line performance. The paper concludes with a high level prescription for developing a project management system.

The paper identifies the cost of not synchronizing efforts in developing the project management system. It demonstrates how large investments are not maximized when individual elements of the project management system are developed separately.

The is paper highlights the need to establish near, mid and long term change plans, or road maps, which under the control of senior management define the development of all aspects of the project management system.

This paper looks at the organization support required to develop successful project management systems and relates this with measuring project management maturity and the impact to bottom line performance. This paper has relevance to CEO's, CFO's, HR directors and senior executives who have responsibility for developing project management who need to transition their organizations project based.

There are several conditions essential for project success that apply to all projects, whether related to top‐level strategic business issues or operational ones: executives must make a compelling business case for project management; make it practical, relevant, and beneficial from day one; make systems and procedures project management‐friendly; make project management a win for team members and managers; make project management an ongoing learning experience, and; make success public. Project management requires deliberate planning and action to create the conditions for success and put in place the strategy, leadership, goals, process, skills, systems, issue resolution, and structure to direct and exploit the dynamic nature of project work. If work today is done through projects, as is surely the case, then working smarter on projects will enable an organization to meet, head‐on, whatever strategic and operational challenges may come its way.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the main findings of a successfully defended doctoral thesis that studied factors or interventions causing the discrepancy between how adequate project risks should be managed and how project risks are actually managed.

The approach involved interviews and a survey using questionnaires gathered data from project managers about their experiences with project risk management during two phases of fieldwork. The first phase included in‐depth interviews with information technology (IT) project managers in order to explore patterns involving risk mediators and their influence on project risk management. A web‐based survey was used in the second phase for the purpose of testing these patterns on a wider range of project managers.

Specific risk‐related interventions strongly influence the effective use of project risk management: project managers tended to deny, avoid, ignore risks and to delay the management of risk. Risks were perceived as discomforting, not agreed upon. IT project managers were unaware of risks and considered them to be outside their scope of influence and preferred to let risks resolve themselves rather than proactively engaging with them. As a consequence, factors such as the lack of awareness of risks by IT project managers appeared to constrain the application of project risk management with the result that risk had an adverse influence on the outcome of IT projects.

The underlying rational assumptions of project risk management and the usefulness of best practice project risk management standards as a whole need to be questioned because of the occurrence of interventions such as the lack of information. IT project managers should first prevent risk‐related interventions from influencing the use of project risk management. However, if this is not possible, they should be prepared to adapt to risks influencing the project outcome.

The paper contradicts the myth of a “self‐evidently” correct project risk management approach. It defines interventions that constrain project manager's ability to manage project risk.

This paper seeks to present research into the development of a theoretical model for making more informed decisions for the management of variations in building projects. Primarily, the study proposes six principles of effective variation management, which would be helpful for building professionals in assessing and taking proactive measures for reducing the adverse impact of variations.

Based on the principles of effective variation management, a theoretical framework for management of variation orders was developed. The stages presented in the theoretical framework were grouped into three main phases – screening, choice of promising alternatives, and dominance building. Based on the theoretical framework, a model for management of variations was developed.

The theoretical model presents a structured format for management of variation orders. The model will enable the project team to take advantage of beneficial variations when the opportunity arises without an inordinate fear of the negative impacts. By having a systematic way to manage variations, the efficiency of project work and the likelihood of project success should increase.

The study would assist building professionals in developing an effective variation management system. The model emphasized sharing the lessons learned from existing projects with project teams of future projects. The lessons learned should be identified throughout the project life cycle and communicated to current and future project participants. The system would be helpful for them to take proactive measures for reducing variation orders. Hence, the study is valuable for all professionals involved with building projects.