Archive for the ‘Temporary organisation’ Category

Tailored task forces: Temporary organizations and modularity (Waard & Kramer, 2008)

Montag, Oktober 20th, 2008

Tailored task forces: Temporary organizations and modularity (Waard & Kramer, 2008)

Waard, Erik J. de; Kramer, Eric-Hans: Tailored task forces – Temporary organizations and modularity; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 26 (2008), No. 5, pp. 537-546.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2008.05.007

As a colleague once put it: Complex projects should be organised like terrorist organisations – Autonomous cells of highly motivated individuals.

Waard & Kramer do not analyse projects but it’s fast paced and short lived cousin – the task force. The task force is THE blueprint for an temporary organisation. The authors found that the more modularised the parent company is, the easier it is to set-up a task force/temporary organisations. Waard & Kramer also found that the temporary organisations are more stable if set-up by modular parent companies. They explain this with copying readily available organisational design principles and using well excercised behaviours to manage these units.

The more interesting second part of the article describes how a company can best set-up task forces. Waard & Kramer draw their analogy from Modular Design.

„Building a complex system from smaller subsystems that are independently designed yet function together“

The core of modular design is to establish visible design rules and hidden design parameters. The authors describe that rules need to be in place for (1) architecture, (2) interfaces, and (3) standards. The remaining design decisions is left in the hands of the task force, which is run like a black box.
In this case Architecture defines which modules are part of the system and what each modules functionality is. Interface definition lays out how these modules interact and communication. Lastly, the Standards define how modules are tested and how their performance is measured.

From organising as projects to projects as organisations (van Donk & Molloy, 2008)

Dienstag, Oktober 7th, 2008

From organising as projects to projects as organisations (van Donk & Molloy, 2008)

van Donk, Dirk Pieter; Molloy, Eamonn: From organising as projects to projects as organisations; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 26 (2008), No. 2, pp. 129-137.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2007.05.006

van Donk & Molloy use two case studies to analyse the antecedents of a chosen project structure. Based on the work of Minzberg (1979) the authors identify five different forms of projects which can be mainly distinguished by their coordination mechanism

  • Simple structure → direct supervision
  • Machine bureaucracy → standardisation of processes
  • Professional bureaucracy → standardisation of skills
  • Divisionalised form → standardisation of outputs
  • Adhocracy → mutual adjustment

The authors identify which antecendents impact the choosen project structure

  • Age and size
  • Regulation and sophistication of the technical system
  • Environmental stability, complexity, market diversity, hostility
  • External control
  • Internal power

Embedding projects in multiple contexts – a structuration perspective (Manning, 2008)

Freitag, Oktober 3rd, 2008

Embedding projects in multiple contexts – a structuration perspective (Manning, 2008)

Manning, Stephan: Embedding projects in multiple contexts – a structuration perspective; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 26 (2008), No. 1, pp. 30-37.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2007.08.012

Manning argues that projects are embedded in multiple contexts at the same time. These context facilitate and constrain the project at the same time and dynamically he describes this as „projects partly evolve in idiosyncratic ways as temporary systems, embedding needs to be understood as a continuous process linking projects to their environments“ (p.30).

Manning bases his analysis on Structuration Theory. It’s premise is to analyse action and structure (to interdependent concepts) in practice. Structuration Theory is defined by three key concepts – (1) structure, (2) actors, and (3) reflexive monitoring.

Structure is the set of symbolic and normative rules found in organisations. Furthermore the structure is set by authoritative and allocative resources. Actors are defined as potentially powerful and knowledgeable agents, who apply rules and resources in interactions, thus impacting the flow of events. As such structure impacts actions, which in turn impacts the structure. Reflexive monitoring is exactly this feedback loop from action to structure.

Applying structuration theory to projects Manning builds the concept of the project as temporary organisation, which is characertised by its tasks (=specification), times (=constraints), and teams (=relations). The author furthermore notices a constant process of disembedding and re-embedding into different contexts.

Which contexts are there? Manning identfies three. (1) organisations which are the collecitve actors engagned in coordinating projects, (2) interorganisational networks which are relations of legally independent organisations, and (3) organisation fields which are areas of institutional life by organisations and their members. Projects are embedded in all three of these contexts at the same time.

Lastly, Manning describes two embedding and re-embedding activities. Enactment of social contexts takes place top-down, that is from organisation fields –> interorganisational networks –> organisations –> projects, whereas the reproduction of social contexts takes place bottowm up.

Large-scale projects, self-organizing and meta-rules: towards new forms of management (Jolivet & Navarre, 1996)

Montag, August 11th, 2008

New Approach to Manage Large-Scale Projects

Jolivet, F.; Navarre, C.: Large-scale projects, self-organizing and meta-rules: towards new forms of management; in: International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 14 (1996), No. 5, pp. 265-271.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0263-7863(96)84509-1

This is one of the few articles dealing with the specifics of large-scale projects. Jolivet & Navarre argue that the traditional approach of pyramidal organisation, centralised control, standardisation of procedures, and reactive management are not suited to successfully execute a large-scale project.

Instead the authors recommend a new approach of autonomy, subsidiarity, and cellular division which is characterized by

  • Maximal individualisation
  • Differentiation of management styles and use of central meta-rules
  • Use of autonomous, self-organising teams
  • Central performance audits

They argue that large scale projects can regain speed if decision power is shifted to people on the ground and is not centrally bundled which creates a bottleneck around the central management team.  All  (sub)-projects in their case study are conducted along a specific and limited set of 12 principles which are all correlated with project success. In all other areas small scale teams have full decisional autonomy.

Inquiring into the temporary organization: New directions for project management research (Packendorff, 1995)

Dienstag, Juli 15th, 2008

Inquiring temp orga

Packendorff, Johann: Inquiring into the temporary organization: New directions for project management research; in: Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 11 (1995), No. 4, pp. 319-333.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0956-5221(95)00018-Q

Firstly Packendorff gives a brief overview about the research on project management. He roots PM research in operations research with the development of the Gantt-Chart in 1910. The other big themes of research Packendorff identifies are

  • scheduling techniques (1950s and onwards)
  • Organisation Theory/HR Management/Leadership (1960s and onwards)
  • software tools/2nd generation Operations Research (1980s and onwards)
  • critical success factor research (1990s and onwards)
  • team building and matrix organisations (1995 [the year the article was written])

In this article Packendorff identifies three main shortcomings of project management research and theory. (1) Project Management is usually seen as a general theory and a theoretical field in its own right, (2) research on project management offers an abundance of normative advice despite being not sufficiently empirical, and (3) projects are seen as “tools” and not organisations.

Furthermore Packendorff recommends three changes in project management research to overcome these shortcomings. (1) Middle range theories for different kinds of projects should replace the general theory focus. (2) The aim of research should be to provide a descriptive theory (instead of the normative advice) which is grounded in empirical narrative studies on human interaction on projects = comparative case studies. (3) Projects should be seen as temporary organisations (instead of management tools) which are an aggregate of individuals temporarily enacting a common cause.