Archive for Juli 14th, 2008

Matching the project manager’s leadership style to project type (Müller & Turner, 2007)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

Leadership Schools

Müller, Ralf; Turner, Rodney J.: Matching the project manager’s leadership style to project type; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 25 (2007), No. 1, pp. 21-32.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2006.04.003

Müller & Turner shortly describe 6 modern and 3 historical schools of leadership before they investigate if leadership styles have an impact on the success of projects and whether there are different styles needed for different projects. The 9 schools they outline briefly are

  1. Confucius – it’s all about relationships, moderation, values, and process
  2. Aristotle – it’s all about relationships, values, and process
  3. Barnard – it’s all about relationship vs. processes
  4. Trait Theory – leaders are born not made
  5. Behavioural Theory – leadership skills can be developed
  6. Contingency Theory – effective leadership depends on the situation
  7. Visionary/charismatic leadership – transformation vs. transaction
  8. Emotional Intelligence – your (gut) feelings matter
  9. Competency – all matters (traits, behaviours, styles, emotions, processes, intellect…)

Furthermore the authors link each item of their 3 dimensional leadership model (Emotional, Managerial, Intellectual) to project performance in different project categories. Their results show that in general IT projects motivational skills and a strategic perspective positively influence the project’s success. In the case of high performing IT projects Self-Awareness, Communication and Self-Development impact the success positively, whereas visionary capacities have a negative impact on the success.

Posted in Leadership | 1 Comment »

Determinants for external communications of IT project managers (Müller 2003)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

 Determinants of Communication

Müller, Ralf: Determinants for external communications of IT project managers; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 21 (2003), No. 5, pp. 345-354.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(02)00053-4

Müller analysis empirically the determinants of external communication of IT project managers in a business-to-business market. The study is based on the concepts of Media Richness Theory (which postulates that the richer the medium the more effective the communication) and Transaction Economics.

Müller finds no evidence for an influence of the organisation’s structure. The risk in the project has a negative impact on communication frequency and communication contents in general. Specifically he finds that higher risk increases communications frequency and preference for face-to-face meetings whilst decreasing the preference for written reports.
Relational norms have a positive influence on communication frequency, media, and contents.

Posted in Actuality Research, Communication, Critical Success Factors | 1 Comment »

The impact of principal–agent relationship and contract type on communication between project owner and manager (Müller & Turner, 2005)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

Communication and Contract type

Müller, Ralf; Turner, Rodney J.: The impact of principal–agent relationship and contract type on communication between project owner and manager; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 23 (2005), No. 5, pp. 398-403.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2005.03.001

Müller & Turner argue that a project should be analysed in two distinctive stages pre and post contract. The pre contract perspective follows the laws outlined in Transaction Economics (or Transaction Cost Theory), which postulates that companies choose the governance structure with the lowest transactions costs. Specifically the degree of asset specificity, the degree of uncertainty, and the frequency of transactions determine the transaction costs both parties (vendor and buyer) consider in this phase.

The post-contract perspective is best conceptualised by the Principal-Agent-Theory, specifically by with the phenomena of moral hazard and adverse selection. Game theory usually calls this equilibria with correlated strategies and calls for contractual design in a way that each player is receiving incentives for compliance.

On a side-note: This behaviour is a classical chicken game. Imagine a vendor and a buyer who build up an integrated team. Both agree (orally) to send their most experienced experts (unfortunately they cost more), which would be best for the project work to be done. In this game each party can choose to give the work either to experts or to rookies:

  Rookies Experts
Rookies (0,0) (8,2)
Experts (2,8) (6,6)

Thus it is better for each team to sent rookies if the other team sends experts (which gives us the two Nash-equilibria of the game). If vendor and buyer send their rookies no one will know what is going on and what they have to do and both earn nothing (0,0). On the other hand the oral agreement of both parties to send their experts is not credible. Since this is a one-shot game the strategy (6,6) can only be reached if both parties agree on binding contracts or a negotiator.

Müller & Turner show that decisions made in the pre-contract phase with the objective to minimize the transaction costs (e.g. fixed-price or cost-plus contracts) can potentially have
have adverse effects on the project in the post-contract phase – by increasing the administrative costs for communication due to their negative impact on owner–manager
collaboration.

Posted in Communication, Contracting, Game Theory | 1 Comment »

Leadership styles in information technology projects (Thite, 2000)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

 Leadershipstyles

Thite, Mohan: Leadership styles in information technology projects; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 18 (2000), No. 4, pp. 235-241.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(99)00021-6

Mohan studied 36 projects in Australia and looked into successful IT project management leadership styles. His results indicate that a combination of transformational and technical leadership behaviours augment the effectiveness of transactional leadership leading to high project success. Unfortunately Mohan also found that there is no one leadership style that is effective in all project situations. Therefore he recommends an underlying yet flexible style characterised by organisational catalyst, intellectual stimulation, behavioural charisma, and contingent reward behaviours for enhanced leadership effectiveness.

Posted in Leadership | 1 Comment »

Project management and business development: integrating strategy, structure, processes and projects (Van Der Merwe, 2002)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

Business development

Van Der Merwe, A. P.: Project management and business development: integrating strategy, structure, processes and projects; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 20 (2002), No. 5, pp. 401-411.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(01)00012-6

Van Der Merwe outlines organisational theories and configurations. Furthermore he applies systems and process theory to explain the relationship between strategy, structure, processes, and projects. The author shows that projects in business development are used to transform a vision into results by bringing together diverse teams. He concludes with this [delightful] paragraph:

„This aspect [projects bringing together diverse people] revealed project management as the point of departure for management theory, where management manages the behavioural processes of people who manage the continuous incremental improvement of business procedures in the organisation, through projects that guide the business process to address the change in the strategic direction of the organisation. If business is to develop then the successful outcome of any change in the organisation can only be achieved when business processes and human behavioural processes converge in the person of the project manager.“ (Van Der Merwe, 2002, p. 411)

[Amen.]

Posted in Critical Success Factors, Methodology, Organisational capabilities, Strategy, Theory, Tools | No Comments »

Success factors regarding the implementation of ICT investment projects (Milis & Mercken, 2002)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

ITC Implementation in Banks CSF

Milis, Koen; Mercken, Roger: Success factors regarding the implementation of ICT investment projects; in: International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 80 (2002), No. 1, pp. 105-117.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0925-5273(02)00246-3

 

Milis & Mercken outline critical success factors for IT implementation projects in banks and insurances. They did a literature review and qualitative field research.The authors describe 49 critical success factors falling into the categories of

  • Project selection
  • Project definition
  • Project plan
  • Management involvement and support
  • Project team
  • Change management
  • Project resources
  • Managing relationships

Building on these findings, Milis & Mercken build a framework of 4 categories of success factors. (1) factors that enhance goal congruence, (2) factors that are related with the project team, (3) factors that influence the acceptance of the project, and (4) elements of implementation politics.

 

The first category combines factors that influence goal congruency:

  • Good selection & justification practice
  • Scope/objectives/goals: defined and agreed upon
  • Criteria for judging success: defined and agreed upon
  • Business alignment

The second category contains factors of team management/leadership:

  • Realistic but challenging goals
  • Urgency built in
  • Evaluation and reward mechanisms in place.Effective communication and conflict control
  • Complementary skills (technical & social)
  • Select team players to staff the project team
  • Select a competent and experienced project manager

The third category focuses on the acceptance of deliverables:

  • Definition of the authority and responsibilities
  • User participation.
  • Training
  • Top management support
  • Continuous evaluation and debate among the different parties involved
  • Powerful project manager with sufficient social skills

The fourth category deals with the implementation politics and planning:

  • Functional decomposition
  • Proper level of detail
  • Sufficient resources to execute the tasks planned
  • Resources for change management & contingency planning
  • Built in resource buffers

Posted in Critical Success Factors, Failed Projects, IT Project | No Comments »

Beyond the Gantt chart: Project management moving on (Maylor, 2001)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

 beyond the gannt chart

Maylor, Harvey: Beyond the Gantt chart – Project management moving on; in: European Managment Journal, Vol. 19 (2001), No. 1, pp. 92-100.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-2373(00)00074-8

Maylor argues that project management practice and research [which he analyses by it’s standard texts and bodies of knowledge] are stuck in a large-scale engineering mind set. He uses the advances in operations to show that knowledge in the project management realm is lacking behind. Maylor covers several key areas and challenges typical project management assumptions:

  • Project definition – projects are not a one-off effort; project managers need to be viewed as integrators of theories and knowledge and not as managers of plans
  • Manufacturing vs. Service – project management has no answer on the intangibility of service projects, thus expectation management and customer orientation are under represented; a SERVQUAL like paradigm change is needed
  • Project Management – the predominant focus on management activities and planning systems dilutes the importance of execution
  • Planning Process – Planning is somehow synonymous with network diagrams, freezes and baselines; Maylor encourages to make planning more visible, adopting lean tools from operations such as whiteboards and post-its
  • Conformance vs. Performance – Project management currently focuses on the conformance with budget, scope, and cost baselines; as operations did with TQM project should focus on delivering as soon as possible and as cheap as possible the maximal customer delight
  • Role of Strategy – Maylor cites Deming’s famous „defects are caused by the system“, to outline how argues that projects should not only be reactions to a company’s strategy but they need to contribute to and form part of the organisation’s strategy

Posted in IT Project, Literature Review, Research, Theory | 273 Comments »

Managing public–private megaprojects: Paradoxes, complexity, and project design (van Marrewijk et al., in press)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

Megaproject Culture (1) Megaproject Culture (2)

van Marrewijk, Alfons; Clegg, Stewart R.; Pitsis, Tyrone S.; Veenswijk, Marcel: Managing public–private megaprojects: Paradoxes, complexity, and project design; in: International Journal of Project Management, in press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2007.09.007

Marrewijk et al. compare the project designs, daily practices, project cultures and management approaches in two case studies. The authors explore how actors on these megaprojects make sense of uncertainty, ambiguity and risk. They show that project design and project cultures influence cooperations between key players on the project.

They argue that each project has a specific project culture with subcultures, conflicts, powers, and cultural ambiguity. Thus making the staff of a project a modern tribe distinguishing themselves from the rest of the working world (and the parent corporation) via artifacts, practices, and values. Projects show multiple cultures, power relations, conflicts, and abnormalities just like any larger society. Post-Positivism research has shown the impact of the project culture on project’s success or failure. Unfortunately the authors found that megaprojects have a higher tendency than normal to develop a dysfunctional project culture.

Moreover Marrewijk et al. analyse the cultural strategies of change and the cultural forms, practices, and content themes found in their two megaproject case studies. Finally they outline how culture and project design influence a public-private partnership project. They conclude that there are 2 critical success factors on how to design a project organisation which can create a non-dysfunctional project culture.

  1. Design power relations between all players in the project in a way that balances these
  2. Design accountability in way that is NOT a zero-sum game and which serves the self-interest of all involved parties and individuals

Posted in Critical Success Factors, Culture, Megaprojects | 1 Comment »

Project organization – Exploring its adaptation properties (Lindkvist, 2008)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

 Project based firm

Lindkvist, Lars: Project organization – Exploring its adaptation properties, in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 26 (2008), No. 1, pp. 13-20.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2007.08.011

Linkdkvist describes in this EURAM 2007 paper the cultural characteristics of the classical functional organisation and the characteristics of the project based firm. Furthermore he outlines 5 critical success factors for changing a functional organization into a project based organisation.

  • Individual learning: Trial-and-Error-Learning on the project level
  • Team learning: Critical inquiry and reflection
  • Firm-wide learning: Strategic learning inspired by individual and team learning
  • Time boundedness: Focus on time-related concepts (plans, milestones, reviews etc.)
  • Reciprocity: Project-level process must be nested in firm-level processes

Posted in Project Organisation | No Comments »

A set of frameworks to aid the project manager in conceptualizing and implementing knowledge management initiatives (Liebowitz & Megbolugbe, 2003)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

KM

Liebowitz, Jay; Megbolugbe, Isaac: A set of frameworks to aid the project manager in conceptualizing and implementing knowledge management initiatives; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 21 (2003), No. 3, pp. 189-198.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-7863(02)00093-5

Liebowitz & Megbolugbe describe three frameworks which can be used by practitioners to think about Knowledge Management (KM) approaches. Firstly the outline Wiig’s framework which describes the knowledge activities cycle (Conceptualise –> Reflect –> Act –> Review –> Conceptualise…) and the connected workplace structure (Business processes, [used in] Knowlege items, [bound to] organisational roles).

Secondly they present the Knowledge Management Pyramid and thirdly they derive a new implementation framework. Liebowitz & Megbolugbe’s framework connects the KM Intentions and Needs with the KM Solution via 4 knowledge objects/critical factors. (1) Knowledge taxonomies, (2) organizational culture, (3) user feedback on usability and functionalities, and (4) alignment with business strategy and senior management committment.

Posted in Critical Success Factors, IT Project, Knowledge Management | 1 Comment »

Frames and inscriptions: tracing a way to understand IT-dependent change projects (Linderoth & Pellegrino, 2005)

Montag, Juli 14th, 2008

constructivism

Linderoth, Henrik C.; Pellegrino, Giuseppina: Frames and inscriptions – tracing a way to understand IT-dependent change projects; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 23 (2005), No. 5, pp. 415-420.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2005.01.005

Linderoth & Pellegrino analyse sense-making in organizational transitions which are driven by IT projects. Sense-making of a new technology, they argue, happens on an individual level at the user and can not be dictated by some higher authority. The authors use two approaches to analyse how individuals make sense of new technology and how the sense shifts over time. The Actor-Network-Theory and Theory of Social Construction of Technology.

Actor-network theory (ANT) explains processes by which ideas are accepted, tools and methods adopted. There are two major methodologies on how to explore these network processes. One is following the actor (mostly by interviews, observation) and the other one is to analyse inscriptions. Inscriptions are artefacts of knowledge created by the actors. Linderoth & Pellegrino follow this second approach and they define the inscription as „desired program of action or pattern of use that someone inscribes into a medium as artefact.“ They find, that for IT most users are inflexible in how to use the technology, but users are highly flexible when and in which situation to use the technology.

Social Construction of Technology explains the counter party in this process – the user. Linderoth & Pellegrino define Technological frames as „outcome of organisation’s member interaction and sense-making of technology“. Furthermore they introduce the notion of dynamic shifts of these frames over time. [Thus adopting a more post-structuralist view on Social Constructivism].
Furthermore they use Social Construction of Technology to outline the 3 key points users engage in sense-making about; (1) the nature of the technology, (2) the strategy of the technology, and (3) the use of the technology. All three frames need a reasonable inter-connection. Furthermore Linderoth & Pellegrino argue that discrepancies between frames of different user groups lead to project failures.

Looking at the dynamics of frames the authors identified one dominating element in each project life stage.

  • Project start-up: Nature, Strategy, Use
  • Project in action: Nature, Strategy, Use
  • Project re-birth: Nature, Strategy, Use

Moreover Linderoth & Pellegrino show that a following the importance of context in building frames. [Thus following the ideas of the learning theory of Constructivism] They show that the sense-making processes to create the frames shift from a global discourse to a local discourse; and thus from a global context to a local context.

Posted in Critical Success Factors, IT Project, Sensemaking, Theory | 2 Comments »