Search results

As in the private sector, public organizational information systems (IS) development is commonly carried out through projects. One of the alternatives followed by governmental organizations to perform their projects is outsourcing (by hiring other public institutions that have expertise in the IS area of the projects to be developed). However, limited research has been conducted on project success regarding these government-to-government (G2G) contexts. Since achieving success is crucial for public management, this paper proposes a model for Success Management of IS projects in G2G context.

The research method was design science research (DSR). In the evaluation step of the DSR, IS projects in a G2G environment were the object of case studies.

This work presents in detail how Success Management activities can be integrated into the processes and process groups of the Project Management Institute's project management guide. The authors also suggest tools and techniques to be used in each Success Management activity.

Managing success, particularly addressing success criteria and success factors, can help managers focus their efforts on what will really impact the success of a project. In the context of IS projects in G2G contexts, this contributes to decreasing waste and increasing the chances of providing better services to citizens.

This work contributes to theory by providing a new model for IS G2G projects that integrates Success Management and project management processes.

The success rate of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations is not high in view of the sums invested by organisations in these applications. It has often been indicated that a combination of inadequate preparedness and inappropriate project management have been responsible for the low‐success rate of ERP implementations. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of a successful ERP implementation.

In this paper, the authors use a case study of a very successful roll out of an ERP application in the Irish subsidiary of a UK multinational to investigate the validity of one of the most commonly cited project management frameworks, the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK), to ERP projects. Discussing each category of the framework in turn, the case data to illustrate where the PMBOK framework is a good fit or needs refining for ERP projects is used.

It is found that, by and large, PMBOK, because it is a very broad framework, can shed light on most of the key aspects of an ERP project. However, the specificities of this type of project require a different emphasis on some of the factors, as discussed in the authors conclusions. The case analysis also raised some interesting insights into how companies evaluate the success of such highly complex change management initiatives.

This research work will need to be extended to cover other case studies of ERP implementation across other industries and organisational contexts; for example in less tightly regulated industries and smaller organisations.

This discussion will be of great value to ERP project managers who are in the early stages of a project and need to understand and anticipate the areas which will require specific attention on their part, based on their knowledge of the specific circumstances within their organisational context.

This paper presents an investigation into the project management strategy adopted in the Pharma Inc. case and illustrates the mechanics of a successful ERP project implementation, categorised using the PMBOK framework.

The purpose of this paper is to explore communication management in information technology (IT) projects and to identify barriers to communication, from both individual and organisational standpoints, and from distinctive stakeholders' points of view (project management office (PMO), project manager, IT and business personnel).

A case-based research in a large IT service provider was conducted, mixing qualitative and quantitative data. A literature review shed light on different epistemological fields, and different aspects of communication in IT projects were analysed and different perspectives were brought together in a communication integrated framework (CIF). Several data collection methods were combined. Structured and unstructured interviews of 78 participants (PMO, IT and business personnel), PMO archival data, and survey-based research were performed in order to achieve triangulation.

The contribution of the CIF to project communication management theory can be summarized as follows. First, the framework considers different perspectives, from the individual to the organisational, which affect communication during IT projects in the form of an integrated system approach. Second, the contingency perspective of different stakeholders are explored, particularly as regards the PMO, IT and business personnel. The case revealed an inconsistency: on the one hand, the importance of communication is exalted by all the analysed stakeholders, and on the other hand, the communication processes and practices proposed by the PMO and formalised in the company's project management (PM) methodology are neither followed nor prioritised by project managers.

This study was dependent on self-reported perceptions. It embraced IT projects, and new studies should be done for other types of projects. The focus is within a specific organisation and its characteristics conditioned the findings.

CIF allows improving the assessment of the communication area in projects. An important managerial implication of this study is that the adoption of a standardised PM framework is not sufficient for the elimination of barriers to communication. The study suggests that firms should consider manners of developing the communication management process, as well as increasing the efficient use of performance report and communication tools to reduce detrimental conflict.

The paper proposes a framework. CIF allows to considering different perspectives, from the individual to the organisational level that affect communication in IT projects.

The Chinese civilization is an important part of the history of mankind. The purpose of this paper is to show that there are project management lessons to be learned from Chinese history, including that relating to the management of the building process in ancient China.

Through a review of the literature, this paper discusses the key management and economic practices in the building process of ancient China and highlights these practices from an important document, the Yingzao Fashi or (“Treatise on Architectural Methods”), that was compared with the modern‐day project management framework.

This paper explains the official systems instituted for public projects; the management of labour, design and planning of construction works; quantity surveying practices; the use, control and recycling of building materials; and inspection of building elements in ancient China.

The study suggests that lessons in the principles of construction project management in ancient China bear many similarities with the nine areas of modern‐day project management body of knowledge relating to integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resource, communications, risk, and procurement management. An area for future research would be to compare the Yingzao Fashi with modern‐day codes of practice for building works to determine which of its “ancient” provisions relating to quality management are still relevant today.

It was found that much emphasis was placed by the ancient Chinese on the quality aspects of prominent building projects. This is one facet from which modern‐day project managers and clients can draw lessons.

The objective of this paper is to provide a description of the model for standardized project management developed by the Project Management Institute (PMI), as applied to digital library projects.

Using the PMI model for project management, the paper develops a context for managing digital library projects according to the PMI's standard methodology.

The paper finds that by using a standard methodology increases the likelihood of delivering projects on time and on budget.

This paper will be of interest to digital library project managers as it fills a gap in the literature by providing an accessible overview of the major components of standard project management methodology as defined by the PMI.

Post-merger integration (PMI) success depends heavily on the social and cultural integration of the two legacy organizations. Given that organizational members work and exchange information through social relationships, social network analysis can serve as a useful tool to identify key actors, address areas of concern, and measure PMI success. However, few PMI studies have employed a social network perspective or social network analysis. In this chapter, the authors review the current literature on PMI and organizational change, including the few studies that use social networks approach. The authors also identify recent developments in social networks and organizational change research that can improve our understanding of PMI processes and propose promising avenues for future research. Further, the authors identify obstacles for social network research on PMI and provide practical advice for overcoming them.

The literature on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), cultural differences between organizations have frequently been identified as one of the main challenges in the process of post-merger integration (PMI). Existing research has explored a broad variety of cultural differences in perceptions, such as those relating to expectations, norms, values and beliefs within the respective organizations, and how these affect the process and success of PMI. However, less attention has been paid to the relevance of the macro-societal context to PMI. The ambition of this article is, therefore, to advance our understanding of how macro-level societal factors define organizational cultures and affect the success of PMI.

We draw on social systems theory as devised by Niklas Luhmann, assuming that organizations are always embedded in the macro-level societal context of distinctive realms of social reality—such as the economy, politics, religion and the arts—that make up the so-called “function systems”. Looking at the case of the integration of a Brazilian technology start-up into a market-leading corporation, we analyze the dominant orientations towards these function systems, and the changes in these orientations over time.

The results suggest that differences in organizational culture in PMI can be partly explained by differences in orientations to the function systems. Moreover, forcing dramatic changes of orientations towards the function systems within a merged entity can severely damage its raison d'etre in the first place, potentially leading to, in some sense, an account of “culture murder”.

This article is unique in demonstrating that organizations are multifunctional systems whose culture is defined by the highly specific and potentially varying degrees of importance they place on individual function systems and that knowledge or neglect of these functional profiles may seriously affect the success of post-merger integration. Against this backdrop, the article presents a multifunctional profiling method that may easily translate into PMI management tools.

The purpose of this article is to investigate collaboration in project management research. Although the literature shows an increase in collaboration between scientists and social scientists for various reasons, it is unclear how and why such collaboration takes place in project management research. The literature does show that co-authorship of articles published in project management journals is on the rise due to increased collaboration between researchers in developed countries and emerging economies as well as developing countries. However, no detailed study has been conducted to investigate how such collaboration occurs in practice in project management research. This article addresses this gap.

We use a multi-method approach (action research as a meta-methodology and surveys) using qualitative data to reflect on a successful collaborative externally funded research project. At the end of the study, a survey was used to investigate how collaboration occurred among the 26 researchers involved, who were spread over nine countries to collect data on a sponsored research project led by the authors who were the principal investigators. We also compare our findings from the original project with findings from a second survey of a purposeful sample of ten project management researchers who have conducted or are conducting collaborative research in order to validate our findings.

Through this study, we were able to compare the reasons for increased collaboration in scientific research reported in the literature with what we learnt from our own experience in collaborating on a large-scale project across geographical boundaries and cultures around the world. We were also able to get some insights on enablers and barriers to collaboration from peers who have collaborated on project management research from the second survey. We found that, although some of the reasons explained in the literature were confirmed in our study (e.g. the reputation of lead researchers), some other reasons (e.g. the prestige of institutions) were not that important. The conclusions section of this article provides a more detailed comparison. We also found that using a project management approach would deliver better outcomes. The literature on scientific collaboration was divided on the value of a project management approach and preferred a combination of firmness and flexibility. We found that using action research as a meta-methodology to reflect on our research gave us further insights into why we did what we did at certain critical points in our research that moved us forward.

Our study used two surveys with a limited number of researchers to compare what was found in the literature on reasons for collaboration in scientific research and how research outcomes were measured using citation rates. Conducting interviews or focused groups could have provided more nuanced findings. However, our findings did show that collaboration is beneficial to both experienced and early career researchers and helps them to publish in higher-ranked journals resulting in better visibility for the research. This is an interesting observation and merits further investigation. Theoretical implications: Findings from this research contribute to the broad literature on collaborative research in science and social science with a focus on practice-based fields such as project management where collaboration between academics and practitioners is becoming important.

The study provides some insights into the reasons for processes used and benefits from collaboration in project management research. Our findings have also been validated with our peers. Thus, this study will be useful for setting up and managing collaborative research in project management.

Effective collaboration in research can provide social value through mentoring of early career researchers.

This is the first detailed study of collaborative research in project management. It also proposes an action research model that can be used to retrospectively analyse long-term research projects to reflect upon and improve.

This study aims to evaluate how stakeholders affect project risks by analyzing the connection between stakeholder management and risk management in the information technology (IT) project context.

Using the Delphi method, interviews with IT project experts were conducted to examine four factors concerning stakeholder management and define probabilities for three risk variables. The design of experiments (DoE) method was applied for the design of the research instrument and data analysis.

Stakeholder engagement and communication with stakeholders have significant influence on the occurrence of negative risks, opportunities and the development of contingency strategies. These results provide project leaders with relevant data that better guide actions toward stakeholders and enhance project success probability.

This study clarifies important aspects of two main project management areas – stakeholder and risk management – in the IT projects context. This research also presented an unusual application for the DoE method which allows the subjective variables analysis by statistical tools and enables to explore factor influences on real project situations.

This paper highlights that extant project management (PM) bodies of knowledge have not fully addressed organisational transformation enabled by information systems projects. The purpose of this paper is to examine the transformation context in the PM disciplines. The authors argue that the execution-oriented PM bodies of knowledge are limited, as they place too much emphasis on the delivery outputs by the supplier rather than the achievement of beneficial outcomes by the project owner.

As a conceptual paper, this paper reviews extant PM bodies of knowledge, life cycle models, the context of organisational transformation and benefits realisation, and the distinction between a project owner’s and the project supplier’s capabilities.

A new PM knowledge framework is provided as an advanced research frame for future works by enhancing Peter Morris’ Management of Projects framework by employing the conceptual lens of Winch’s Three Domains of Project Organising model.

The advanced model emphasises the necessity of distinguishing a project owner’s and a supplier’s PM capability and knowledge to achieve successful IS-enabled organisational transformation. Through this effort to resolve the fragmentation and specialisation problems in PM disciplines, the model can be used as a theoretical groundwork for the advancement of PM research.