Search results

Business consortiums for temporary projects have limited time and less attention from individual organisations concerning leadership alignment. Recognising the need to study relationships in alliances, this study aims to identify the fundamental organisational beliefs perceived by the leaders in a construction business consortium and relate them to the companies’ belief system as conceptualised by Simons.

The research adopts a positivist qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews, literature review and document analysis through a case study in a temporary business consortium formed by three large construction companies.

It was possible to verify alignment between the beliefs of the consortium and its leadership and infer that the flow of beliefs can be affected by the duration of the project. The research underlines the importance of the belief system within an organisation and how differences can cause internal conflicts, whilst alignment can improve competitiveness. The authors concluded that conflicts emerge due to a lack of alignment regarding the business’ core beliefs and the presence of different cultures and the duration of the project. Also, it was possible to create two different propositions for future studies regarding the project timeframe and improve competitiveness with the alignment of beliefs.

Whilst there is academic literature that identifies challenges in successful project execution attributed to the misalignment of teams at a cultural level, organisations today still largely neglect the importance of team alignment. A better understanding of beliefs across organisations could have significant impact on social aspects resulting in improvements concerning projects timescales and quality of deliverables.

The main contribution is to explain how beliefs flow from individual parties to a temporary business consortium. This research addresses the lack of empirical studies relating to the alignment of temporary projects whilst providing recommendations to inform future research.

The purpose of this study is to address the problematic yet under-researched issue of the disconnectedness of the temporary and permanent levels of organisation in project-based firms in terms of learning and innovation diffusion.

The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of a pioneering French construction firm introducing the partnering method in France. Based on an abductive approach, the analytical framework combines insights of the literature on community and networks of practice to investigate the processes and mechanisms of diffusion of innovation in project-based firms.

The function of semi-permanent organisational levels in connecting the temporary and permanent levels of the firm – the communities of practice (CoPs) and network of practice (NoP) exists besides the formal organization of the firm. As a social learning process, innovation diffusion involves both formal (i.e. vertical) and informal (i.e. horizontal) forms of organising and learning. Intermediary and informal ways of organising enables the embedding of innovation both in terms of content and connections. Foremost, CoPs/NoPs contribute to relational embeddedness. Boundary actors and objects are essential in crossing the different levels of embeddedness to overcome the learning boundaries between temporary projects and the permanent firm.

The investigation is built on a single case study and further empirical research is needed, preferably longitudinal case studies, as this allows greater capture of the diffusion process. The authors suggest further studies using practice-based perspectives to capture the formal and informal ways of organising innovation diffusion.

Managerial interventions should favour the development of the informal dynamics of community and networks to foster both innovation and its diffusion. The managerial challenge lies in creating the right prerequisites for the existence of both the informal community logics of organising and the formal top management decision-making, and to orchestrate their timing in the diffusion process.

The study reveals the importance of both formal and informal networks in driving innovation. As such, project-based firms should be aware of these dynamics when striving for change.

The study contributes to the literatures on diffusion of innovation, project marketing and construction management. It includes new insights related to the function of intermediary and informal organisational levels of project-based organisations, the dynamics and connection between the temporary and permanent levels of the project-based firm related to communities and networks of practice, and the boundary spanning activities that are involved between the formal and informal levels of the firm.

Despite the knowledge transfer between projects has received increasing attention from scholars, few scholars still conduct comprehensive research on inter-project knowledge transfer from both horizontal and vertical perspectives. Besides, knowledge transfer is affected by multiple antecedent conditions, and these factors should be combined for analysis. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the key factors influencing knowledge transfer between projects using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method from both horizontal and vertical perspectives and how these factors combine to improve the effectiveness of knowledge transfer (EKT) between projects.

First, nine factors affecting knowledge transfer between projects were identified, which were from the four dimensions of subject, relationship, channel, and context, namely temporary nature (TN), time urgency (TU), transmit willingness (TW), receive willingness (RW), trust (TR), project-project transfer channels (PPC), project-enterprise transfer channels (PEC), organizational atmosphere (OA), and motivation system (MS). Then, the source of the samples was determined and the data from the respondents was collected for analysis. Following the operation steps of the fsQCA method, variable calibration, single condition necessity analysis, and configuration analysis were carried out. After that, the configurations of influencing factors were obtained and the robustness test was conducted.

The results of the fsQCA method show that there are five configurations that can obtain better EKT between projects. Configuration 3 (∼TN * ∼TU * TW * RW * TR * ∼PPC * PEC * MS) has the highest consistency, indicating that it has the highest degree of the explanatory variable subset. Configuration 1 (∼TN * ∼TU * TW * RW * PEC * OA * MS) has the highest coverage, meaning that this configuration can explain most cases. Also, the five configurations were divided into three types: vertical transfer, horizontal-vertical transfer, and channel-free transfer category.

Firstly, this study explores the key factors influencing knowledge transfer between projects from four dimensions, which presents the logical chain of influencing factors more clearly. Then, this study divided the five configurations obtained into three categories according to the transfer direction: vertical, horizontal-vertical, and channel-free transfer, which gives implications to focus on both horizontal knowledge transfer (HKT) and (VKT) when studying knowledge transfer between projects. Lastly, this study helps to realize the exploration of combined improvement strategies for EKT, thereby providing meaningful recommendations for enterprises and project teams to facilitate knowledge transfer between projects.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the knowledge management (KM) loop process in a work package (WP)-based project engineering management method. The purpose of the KM loop is the routine capture of learnings to improve work practices in both the project and the firm.

A conceptual model for a project KM loop is developed by researching various KM theories found in the literature and incorporating the most applicable concepts and bridging any gaps in an attempt to overcome the reported impediments to learning in projects. A specific WP-based project engineering method (the STBQ method) is chosen as the framework for illustrating the workings and advantages of the KM loop. The author’s experiential judgement is used in applying selected academic concepts to create a KM process particularly useful for consulting engineering firms engaged in the detailed design phase of heavy industrial projects notwithstanding the fact that it may be beneficial in other project environments.

Completion of a WP can be used as a natural point in time for the collection of lessons learned (LL). At post-WP debriefing meetings, intuitive learnings can be contributed by individuals and interpreted in the context of the recently completed WP. When seen to be applicable, the project engineer integrates this newly gained experiential knowledge into the project’s job instructions for immediate implementation on other WPs remaining in the project scope. Through the project manager, these new or revised job instructions are proposed as candidates for new or revised standard practices to the senior managers of the engineering firm who can institutionalize them by approval for use in other in-progress or future projects.

The KM loop described here is specifically intended to be used with the STBQ method where the 100 per cent rule is applied and where each WP sub-team is tasked with the delivery of their WP safely, on-time, on-budget and with no quality deficiencies as the criteria for success of their WP. A research limitation is that capturing learnings throughout the project does not solve the problem of capturing post-project learnings from design errors surfacing during construction, in commissioning, or after start-up during on-going operations and maintenance. Nonetheless, innovative ideas and improvements can be found during the detailed engineering phase and the KM loop captures these for intra-project and inter-project use.

The extra effort of decomposing requirements into WPs not only helps control project costs, schedule, quality and safety but also provides an effective way to capture knowledge from project learnings for intra-project and inter-project use.

The lessons-learned sessions held at the completion of each WP provides an opportunity to provide motivation and morale boosting to the WP sub-team members.

This paper contributes what is believed to be the first WP-based KM loop in project engineering management using a specific application of the 4I framework of organizational learning. In addition, when applied in the STBQ method or any other method that uses interim WPs for both planning and reporting, the LL sessions can be pre-scheduled and budgeted separately from the subject WP. This helps to overcome the problem widely reported in projects that not enough calendar time or person-hours can be spared to attend the LL sessions.

Hard project management practices, based on strict planning and control, are traditionally applied in construction projects, although research frequently promotes the importance of teams for various project outcomes. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of hard project management and team motivation for process performance in construction projects. A hypothesis tested is that hard project management can impair process performance if team motivation is not promoted.

The paper presents and empirically tests a structural equation model, with and without a mediating link between hard project management and process performance, based on data from a survey of 2,175 respondents, representing contractors and clients involved in 109 Swedish construction projects.

The results confirm that hard project management is best conveyed through teams to enhance process performance. “Path analysis,” using the model with the mediating link, confirms that neglecting team motivation can significantly impair process performance.

The data set provides unusually high representation of views of contractors and clients involved in diverse Swedish construction projects. Thus, the results have likely relevance in other project-based industries and/or national settings, but this possibility requires further investigation.

The findings show that team motivation is a key process performance factor; hard project management may indeed be important, but its effects will be enhanced by (and partially mediated through) team motivation. Thus, the findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the development of project management practices.

This study aims to investigate how the processes of memory acquisition, retention, retrieval and application occur in project-based organizations (PBOs). In this kind of organization, the nature of corporate memory is influenced by the transience, uniqueness and independence of the project portfolio. Such understanding may help practitioners to mitigate the effects of project transience and promote knowledge sharing among project teams.

An empirical and qualitative study was carried out through a multiple case study approach conducted in three Brazilian Engineering Design Firms, which are organized by projects. Document analysis, direct observation and semi-structured interviews with engineers, project managers and executives were conducted.

The memory acquisition process takes place in five forms which have different sources and destinations when comparing PBOs with traditional organizational settings. Memory retention in PBOs crosses organizational boundaries and establishes a knowledge network of former employees and third parties. The PBOs project memory can be divided into volatile and perennial memory, where the former can be lost throughout project execution and the latter is internalized, becoming an inseparable part of the corporate memory. Memory retrieval in PBOs is also distinct since it has particular mechanisms depending on whether the knowledge is technical or administrative.

The research investigates the corporate memory processes within the volatile context of PBOs in a Latin-American developing country whose culture favors tacit knowledge exchange. The paper proposes a framework that unveils different patterns of knowledge acquisition, temporary and perennial retention structures, intensive usage of external knowledge in memory retrieval and particular memory applications in PBOs. The framework may guide scholars, project managers, engineers and practitioners in navigating through the uniqueness of organizational learning flows and structures in PBOs.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of relationship quality among team members in the project team on knowledge transfer effectiveness and analyze the role of organizational structure in the influencing process.

The hypotheses are verified by the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis using Smart PLS 3 software with the data collected from 236 questionnaire samples in Chinese construction industry.

The results indicate that relationship quality has a direct impact on knowledge transfer in project teams and centralization has a negative impact on relationship quality. Moreover, relationship quality plays a mediating role between centralization and knowledge transfer effectiveness and formalization plays a negative moderating role in the effect of relationship quality on knowledge transfer effectiveness.

This paper studies intra-project knowledge transfer from the perspective of relationship quality of project teams and explores the antecedent and moderating role of organizational structure in the influence of relationship quality on knowledge transfer.

Teamwork in the construction industry has attracted much attention from both academic and industrial circles. Most importantly, improving team effectiveness will increase the likelihood of successful project delivery. Recognising the factors influencing team dynamics is important for enhanced team performance.

Based on a detailed literature review, a survey questionnaire containing 10 aspects and 25 attributes of teamwork relevant to construction is used to collect feedback from Malaysian construction practitioners from client, consultant and contractor organisations to prioritise these hypothesised variables. The data are then subjected to reliability analysis, descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and frequencies), a one-sample t-test, the Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA and exploratory factor analysis.

The significance of these aspects and attributes is then presented. The three most crucial aspects are “project performance”, “decision-making capability” and “problem-solving ability”. The most influential attributes are “effective communication between project team members”, “efficient team leadership”, “well-defined team responsibilities and roles”, “clear team goals and objectives” and “good collaboration between all project leaders”. The Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA reveals five attributes having statistically significant differences with respect to company size, namely “clear team goals and objectives”, “commitment to the project”, “adequate resources”, “team or task processes” and “creativity and innovation”. Six underlying dimensions are found, comprising (1) participative engagement and task commitment; (2) team responsibility structure and accountability; (3) culture of trust and respect; (4) leader's skills and abilities; (5) top management support; and (6) synergic working environment.

The identification of these dimensions for team effectiveness provides rigorous basis for formulating useful team-building strategies for integrating a collaborative environment among project stakeholders and consequently improving project performance.

This paper bridges the identified knowledge gap concerning the dimensionality of teamwork attributes in construction-based setting and adds to existing knowledge of how team effectiveness can be leveraged to improve project performance in the construction management literature.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the cultural influences on knowledge sharing behavior in project teams.

In this paper a simulation setting is used to assess the cultural influences on knowledge sharing. All intercultural simulations were part of an educational program, in intercultural management (MBA level) and of executive development programs respectively.

The findings in the paper show that different cultural backgrounds of team members due to different ethnicities, gender, national culture or functions create a context of cultural complexity, which might affect knowledge sharing in a negative way. The results of the simulations show that the different identities of team members have an important influence as they might trigger sentiments of negative stereotyping. The findings also reveal that knowledge sharing is only likely to occur if new project members are welcomed emotionally as valuable contributors to a common task.

Given the exploratory nature of this paper, it suggests using the results as a starting ground for future empirical research. The propositions that were developed on the basis of the research may be tested in subsequent studies applying a different research methodology.

Based on the paper's findings, recommendations for project management in situations of cultural complexity are developed.

The paper extends existing knowledge on cultural influences in knowledge sharing especially in the context of project teams.

This paper aims to investigate how project nature affects the effectiveness of knowledge transfer between projects in project-based organizations (PBOs) and to analyze the roles of inter-project communication, transfer intention and information technology (IT) in the influencing process.

This paper adopted a questionnaire survey method to collect data from construction enterprises in China and subsequently proceeded to structural equation modeling analysis with a total of 261 samples.

The results indicate that the similarity of projects could promote the inter-project communication and improve transfer intention, which further influences knowledge transfer effectiveness positively within PBOs. The urgency of projects has a negative impact on inter-project communication and transfer intention. The temporality of projects also negatively affects inter-project communication. They consequently hinder the knowledge transfer behaviors between projects. Additionally, the application of IT improves the frequency of communication and makes up for the negative impact of geographical distance between projects on knowledge transfer.

Based on the results, a series of strategies is recommended to improve knowledge transfer effectiveness between projects, including standardizing project management, promoting information construction, establishing a post-project evaluation system and creating a shared culture, so that the competitive advantages of PBOs could be improved.

The study explores the factors influencing knowledge transfer between projects from the perspective of project nature and provides guidance for enhancing knowledge management and project management practices.