Relationships among interpersonal conflict, requirements uncertainty, and software project performance

Interpersonal conflict and user requirements uncertainty are pervasive phenomena that plague information systems projects. Relevant literature indicates that interpersonal conflicts can negatively affect information system (IS) projects, even after controlling for the effects of conflict management and resolution. However, the negative emotional characteristics of conflict alone have limited explanatory power with regard to IS project success. The purpose of this study is to provide additional insights into this phenomenon by examining the impact on IS project performance made by the interaction between interpersonal conflict and requirement uncertainty (which comprises both diversity and instability). The authors surveyed the top 1600 companies in Taiwan and the results revealed that requirements instability would lead to potential interpersonal conflict and interpersonal conflict was directly associated with requirements diversity which, in turn, was negatively associated with final project performance.     

The integration of CPM and material management in project management

The problem of scheduling a project for which expensive, long-lead inventory items have to be ordered from outside vendors is addressed. A logic aimed at minimizing the cost of such projects is presented along with an illustrative example. The logic is based on adding a material management module to the CPM analysis, evaluating the feasibility of the CPM schedule, and rescheduling the project in case long-lead items make the schedule generated by CPM infeasible. An attempt to integrate CPM and material management in a large-scale construction project is reported and possible extensions of this research are suggested.     

浅谈施工项目管理信息化建设

信息化建设是建设项目施工过程管理的迫切需要.本文分析了施工项目管理信息化的必要性,并探讨如何建立施工项目管理系统.     

浅谈净水厂改造工程的项目管理

净水厂改造项目不仅拥有一般工程项目的工程管理过程及要求,还具有其自身的特点。其项目的管理在充分运用工程项目管理的知识、技能、手段和方法的基础上,还应抓住项目自身特点,结合现场实际情况,实施工程项目的组织和管理。本文结合工程案例介绍了净水厂改造项目的特点及其项目的管理。     

The three roles of a project portfolio management office: Their impact on portfolio management execution and success

Project portfolio management offices (PPMOs) are a subset of project management offices (PMOs) that handle collections of multiple single projects and programmes, i.e. portfolios. PPMOs are centralised organisational units that cater to the demands of various stakeholders by performing specialised tasks. They are initiated by their organisation's leadership in response to increasing management challenges originating from project portfolios. Although there has been considerable research on PMOs in general, not only a clear understanding of multi-project PMOs' activity patterns set in specific contexts like project portfolio management, but also both existence and mode of multi-project PMOs' contribution to successful performance are still lacking. By quantitatively analysing PPMOs in 278 portfolios, we identify three different activity patterns, which are interpreted as distinctive roles. We show a significant positive effect of PPMOs' coordinating and controlling roles on performance in terms of project portfolio management quality, which is a predictor of portfolio success.     

A memetic paradigm of project management

This paper aims to fuel the discussion on examining project management research from different perspectives. A new memetic approach to project management is presented that promotes a new way to examine the discipline of project management. Project management is claimed to be a memeplex with the language and stories of its scholars and practitioners at its core; shaping and restricting human behaviour, and creating impoverished mental models of project management. The paper suggests that a new memetic approach to project management will help lift restrictions imposed by the traditional research approach, and enrich our mental maps of project management to serve us better.     

Multiproject lineage management: Bridging project management and design-based innovation strategy

Innovation-based strategies are widely recognized as key drivers to maintain competitive advantage. The design and strategic literature underline the possibility of triggering a multiproduct value-expansion dynamic based on the creation of new concepts dynamically twinned with corporate strategy. However, the multiproject-management literature—portfolio, program, and platform—lags behind and remains focused on ex ante coordination, resource allocation and selectionism. Thus, there are still few indications of the processes that stimulate and orient continuous, profitable multiproject creative expansion. Bridging the multiproject-management literature and design theory, we propose a model of multiproject lineage management (MPLM), which focuses on the key processes that drive exploration efforts and shape innovation trajectory. We conduct a multiple longitudinal case analysis in the automobile sector. Based on this analysis, we expose the principles of MPLM, mapping the roles of corporate, program and project management within a global expansion project. Finally, we highlight our contributions to managerial practices and the related literature.     

监狱工程建设及项目管理

本文通过对监狱视频监控工程建设的探索,梳理了监狱监控工程项目管理的特性,供相关工程人员参考。     

Boundary object efficacy: The mediating role of boundary objects on task conflict in global virtual project networks

As project-based industries such as Architecture, Engineering and Construction globalize, workers require strategies for managing conflict in virtual project networks. Our aim in this paper is to explore the efficacy of boundary objects as tools to mediate conflict in culturally-diverse, distributed networks. Based on annotated recordings for eight networks of graduate student engineers, we demonstrate that different interactional patterns between distributed engineers and boundary objects can lead to a reduction in conflict duration. We did not observe higher levels of conflict for global compared to domestic networks, but did discover that, regardless of network diversity, networks that interacted with the boundary objects in certain ways were able to identify and resolve conflicts more quickly. Our findings have important implications for theories of conflict management and boundary object efficacy in addition to practical applications to support conflict management in global virtual project networks.     

浅谈施工项目管理

本文介绍了作者对施工管理过程应该重点把握的几点提出了自己的观点,着重指出项目管理应该抓住"怎么做"、"做多少"、"多少利",从而最大限度的将施工项目管理好。     

Enforcing strategic fit of project portfolios by project termination: An empirical study on senior management involvement

Project portfolios are vehicles for strategy implementation. Senior management should terminate projects no longer conforming to corporate strategy in order to ensure strategic fit. This paper investigates how rigorous termination of bad and troubled projects affects portfolio effectiveness and senior management's decisive role in this context. We introduce the concept of project termination quality, analyse its consequences for strategic fit and how it is affected by senior management involvement. Using a quantitative longitudinal study of a sample of project portfolios, we show that termination quality positively affects strategic fit. We also show a positive, but inverted u-shaped relationship between senior management involvement and termination quality. We conclude that there is an optimal degree of involvement, beyond which an additional involvement of senior managers results in negative effects.     

Advancing project and portfolio management research: Applying strategic management theories

This paper focuses on the application of strategic management theories to Project Management and Project Portfolio Management research, specifically the Resource-Based View, Dynamic Capabilities, and Absorptive Capacity. A literature review and four research experiences illustrate the advances achieved through the use of these three theoretical perspectives, and contribute to the development of this field by providing examples and guidance for theory development and future research. Commonalities between the research examples include a strong strategic focus, recognition of the importance of knowledge and learning, and research questions seeking understanding and explanation. These research experiences outline the successful application of strategic management theories to a wide range of contexts, using diverse methodologies at a variety of levels of analysis. The findings indicate a broad potential for further fruitful research stemming from the relatively recent application of strategic management theories to Project Management and Project Portfolio Management research.     

Cross-domain negative effect of work-family conflict on project citizenship behavior: Study on Chinese project managers

This research aims to examine whether and how the bidirectional work-family conflict—work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC)—would influence project citizenship behavior (PCB) among Chinese project managers. We proposed hypotheses regarding the relationships between work-family conflict and PCB and the mediating effects of project commitment, which considered the role of national context. Data collected from 154 Chinese project managers were analyzed using structural equation modeling. It was found that FWC had negative relationships with all the three chosen PCBs, i.e., helping behavior, individual initiative, and relationship maintenance, and project commitment mediated these relationships. However, no negative influences of WFC on the three PCBs and project commitment were found. Further comparisons of effects of WFC and FWC on PCBs and project commitment indicated that Chinese project managers were less subject to the negative impacts of WFC. Overall, our results supported the cross-domain negative effect but rejected matching-domain negative effect of work-family conflict among Chinese project managers. We extend understandings of work-family conflict and PCB in the project context, and verify the importance of national context in interpreting work-family issues. Practical suggestions are also discussed regarding increasing project managers' PCB.     

Project complexity and team-level absorptive capacity as drivers of project management performance

Many believe that project complexity reduces project management performance. However, so far research has failed to establish this causal relationship conclusively. We extend research on project complexity by introducing the concept of team-level absorptive capacity and by studying its role as mediator between project complexity and project management success. Applying structural equation modelling to a sample of 285 respondents, we find an unequivocal, direct and positive statistical association between project complexity and delays and overspending. Further, we show that team-level absorptive capacity is critical for successful project management, but also that absorptive capacity can only partially offset the harmful impact of project complexity. Beyond adding to project management theory, the paper contributes to the wider management literature. We establish complexity as an antecedent of absorptive capacity and demonstrate how each dimension of absorptive capacity has unique determinants and outcomes.     

Impacts of multi-layer chain subcontracting on project management performance

This paper investigates the impacts of applying the multi-layer chain subcontracting system on project management performance with reference to Hong Kong construction industry. Multi-layer chain subcontracting system is widely used within construction industry as it is considered advantageous in many aspects such as better efficiency of subcontractors’ operation due to their unique skills. However, the fact of poor quality products in construction practice raises the doubt about the effectiveness of the chain system. Accordingly, the reasons why the applications of the system contribute to poor project performance are examined. A survey conducted in the Hong Kong construction industry demonstrates that the multi-layer chain subcontracting system, while widely adopted, is largely flawed. Based on the survey results, application of multi-layer chain subcontracting system contributes largely to the poor performance across the all major aspects including quality and time management, cost control, and communication and coordination performance. The association exists between poor project management performance and the increase of the number of layers in the chain of the subcontracting arrangement. The long communication chain because of the increasing layers of subcontractors results in various problems such as communication errors, poor supervision on the bottom-layer contractors. Consequently overruns in cost and time, and abortive and remedial works are common. Recommendations for improving the practice are suggested and explored, including change the practice of the “lowest bid” to an approach which incorporate both price and technical performance, limit the number of subcontracting layers, restrain the use of “supply-and-fix” subcontracting arrangement, and enforce the implementation of government regulations. The findings of this study provide useful references in examining the practice of subcontracting system in other construction industries and identifying the areas where the improvements can be made for gaining the benefits of using the system.     

Behavior of internal stakeholders in project portfolio management and its impact on success

Stakeholder behavior and stakeholder management are key success factors within project portfolio management (PPM). This empirical study of 197 project portfolios investigates the effect of the intensity of engagement (IoE) of portfolio-internal stakeholders on project portfolio success. We show that the effect of stakeholders is phase-specific and that role clarity as a measure of PPM maturity affects the nature of the relationship between the IoE of stakeholders and portfolio success. The effects of the IoE of senior managers on success are not clearly positive with regard to strategic portfolio structuring and are even negative in operative portfolio steering in established PPM systems. In immature PPM systems, line managers tend to take advantage of their position in resource management. Surprisingly, the influence of portfolio managers in portfolio steering is insignificant. Altogether, this paper shows the diverse effect of the IoE of stakeholders on portfolio success. This study enriches project research by applying stakeholder theory to the project portfolio context and offers practical guidance for further professionalizing PPM.     

关于建筑企业强化项目管理的探讨

针对工程项目管理存在的不科学、不规范等问题，提出建筑企业必须建立专业化的项目管理队伍，引进激励机制，实现项目分配制度的创新，调整优化企业内部生产要素配置机制，强化项目成本核算管理。     

Impact of customer integration on project portfolio management and its success—Developing a conceptual framework

The growing number of company projects requires comprehensive management, project portfolio management (PPM), for strategic alignment and efficient use of resources. In parallel, companies face customers demanding higher value, and joint value creation with customers is considered a key success factor in the future. Project portfolios delivering products and services for customers implicate a link between PPM and an increased customer focus. Combining the research fields of marketing and PPM for the first time, this study proposes customer integration into PPM. I develop a framework describing the impact of customer integration into PPM on project portfolio success mediated through relationship value. Furthermore, the study describes relevant aspects for customer integration on the project portfolio level and identifies interfaces for cross-functional integration of a customer portfolio representative within the PPM process. The findings and limitations of this study are discussed, and further research is suggested.     

An empirical investigation on how portfolio risk management influences project portfolio success

Project risk management is recognized as essential in order to cope with the challenges arising from the environment. Literature suggests a portfolio-wide perspective for managing risks in project portfolios. However, research on risk management and its success in a project portfolio context is scarce. This study examines how portfolio risk management influences project portfolio success. Using a sample of 176 firms, this study provides evidence that portfolio risk identification, the formalization of the portfolio risk management process, and risk management culture directly influence risk transparency, whereas risk prevention, risk monitoring, and the integration of risk management into project portfolio management are directly connected to risk coping capacity. The findings also suggest that both risk transparency and risk coping capacity have a direct impact on project portfolio success. However, the results did not confirm the hypothesis that risk transparency and risk coping capacity have a complementary effect on success. Implications for scholars and project portfolio managers are discussed.