No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Does project management matter? The relationship between project management effort, complexity, and profitability
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the causal impact of project management effort on project profitability (i.e., profit on sales) for varying degrees of project complexity in an engineer-to-order (ETO) project setting. We use a sample of 917 projects’ status reports of a large firm that offers ETO products coupled with a control function approach to empirically investigate the causal effect of project management effort on projects’ profitability. Furthermore, we investigate the marginal impact of project management effort and its effect for different degrees of project complexity. Our results reveal a positive but diminishing impact of project management effort on project profitability. Furthermore, we find that higher project complexity jeopardizes project profitability. However, project management's marginal impact increases with increasing project complexity, ultimately leading to higher returns of more complex projects. While previous research provided correlational evidence between project management and project success, this study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to demonstrate a causal impact of project management on profitability. The results offer unique insights into the economic benefits of project management while taking into account the complexity of the projects. The study confirms the benefits of project management efforts regarding project profitability and underlines the high relevance of project management for complex projects, thereby underlining the importance of contingency theory. It shows that firms can compensate higher ETO customization and higher project complexity through higher project management effort.
... Complex construction projects are characterized by a large scale, a large number of elements, interactions, uncertainty, and dynamics. The high level of project complexity poses a key challenge to the successful execution of the project [1]. For example, the Wudongde hydropower plant with a total investment of CNY 73.813 billion and a construction period of 114 months, has a large number of crossover operations and many parties are involved in the construction. ...
... For example, the Wudongde hydropower plant with a total investment of CNY 73.813 billion and a construction period of 114 months, has a large number of crossover operations and many parties are involved in the construction. The more complex the project the project members face is, the less prior experience they can use [1,2]. Due to the complexity of complex construction projects, the difficulty of construction, and the ambiguity of a risk perception of all parties involved, it provides significant obstacles for project managers, resulting in catastrophic implications such as investment overruns, timetable delays, and other out-of-control ambitions [3][4][5]. ...
... However, few studies have attempted to examine the specific ways in which such effects occur based on a complexity perspective. Complex construction projects are more uncertain, more complex, and more difficult to implement than general projects [1,2,5]. The mechanisms by which organizational leadership affects the management performance in such contexts remain unclear. ...
Organizational leadership is a key factor affecting the management performance of complex construction projects, but seldom have studies attempted to explore the effect mechanisms of organizational leadership on the project management performance, especially the mediating role of project citizenship behavior. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap by investigating the effects of organizational leadership on project citizenship behavior and management performance in complex construction projects. The theoretical model is constructed based on a literature review, and exploratory factor analyses (EFA) are performed on 169 valid questionnaires collected to measure organizational leadership, then partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to test the hypotheses. The results show that (i) organizational leadership is measured as vision guiding, context interacting, team building, and systems thinking; (ii) vision guiding and context interacting have both direct and indirect effects on the project management performance, and team building can only improve the project management performance by influencing the project citizenship behavior, whereas systems thinking has no significant effect on project citizenship behavior and the project management performance in complex construction projects; (iii) and project citizenship behavior partly mediates the influence of organizational leadership on the project management performance, and the effect of organizational leadership on the project management performance is more realized through the mediating role of project citizenship behavior. The results have a significant theoretical and practical significance for improving the project management performance.
... A key aspect of a sound IP management policy would be on how IP risk is identified and managed. Studies indicate that proactive risk management is beneficial for projects as it increases the predictability of outcomes [58][59][60]. Standardisation of risk identification and reporting are important [60], and a well developed risk awareness model ensures mitigation methods are identified and executed in a timely manner thereby reducing risk [59,61]. For effective risk management, the factors that contribute to IP risk in OI should be identified and assessed. ...
... Studies indicate that proactive risk management is beneficial for projects as it increases the predictability of outcomes [58][59][60]. Standardisation of risk identification and reporting are important [60], and a well developed risk awareness model ensures mitigation methods are identified and executed in a timely manner thereby reducing risk [59,61]. For effective risk management, the factors that contribute to IP risk in OI should be identified and assessed. ...
Open innovation (OI) is key to sustainable product development and is increasingly gaining significance as the preferred model of innovation across industries. When compared to closed innovation, the protection of intellectual property (IP) that is created in open innovation is complex. For organisations engaging in OI, a sound IP management policy focusing on IP risk reduction plays a significant role in ensuring their sustained growth. Assessing the risks that are involved in IP management will enable firms to devise appropriate IP management strategies, which would ensure sufficient protection of an IP that is created in an OI model. Studies indicate that the risks which are associated with IP and risk management processes also vary with company segments that range from start-ups to micro, small, medium, and large organisations. This paper proposes an open innovation IP risk assessment model to compute the open innovation intellectual property risk score (OIIPRS) by employing an analytic hierarchy process. The OIIPRS indicates the IP risk levels of an organisation when it engages in open innovation with other organisations. The factors contributing to IP risk are identified and further classified as configurable IP risk factors, and the impact of these factors for the various company segments is also factored in when computing the OIIPRS. Further, an OI IP risk maturity model (OIIPRMM) is proposed. This model depicts the IP risk maturity of organisations based on the computed OIIPRS on an IP risk continuum, which categorises firms into five levels of IP risk maturity. The software firms can make use of the OIIPRMM to assess the level of IP risk and adopt proactive IP protection mechanisms while collaborating with other organisations.
... Study [6] revealed the impact of project management on its economic efficiency. The authors established that the higher the complexity of the project, the greater the risks regarding its profitability. ...
The choice of project management methodology affects both the implementation of projects and their economic efficiency. Quantitative assessment of such an impact substantiates the relevance of this paper's research topic. The object of the study is the activity of companies in the field of engineering of innovative developments under the conditions of change in project management methodology. The study solved the problem of identifying the impact of research and development costs on the income of companies in the field of innovative development engineering in the context of a change in project management methodology. A change in project management methodology can significantly affect the costs, timelines, and bottom line associated with research and development, and determine their effectiveness in the context of achieving business goals. A change in project management methodology can affect the use of resources allocated for research and development, which ultimately affects the company's performance. Regression analysis was used to determine the impact of changes in project management methodology on the amount of investment in research and development. The results of the study show that the use of project management methodologies, such as Waterfall and Agile, has a positive effect on the quality of project management and financial indicators of companies. Projects implemented according to the Agile methodology are more effective, reducing the number of canceled and closed projects. Both methodologies lead to the successful completion of most projects but the percentage of successfully completed projects with the Waterfall methodology is higher than with Agile. The use of Agile makes it possible to achieve a significant reduction in the terms of project implementation and improve the efficiency of costs and resources. The results can be used by companies at the stage of choosing a project management methodology to decide on the implementation of the Waterfall or Agile methodology
... surveyed 600 organizations in 22 countries, which showed that projects in the IT domain increased in complexity in 88% of organizations and budgets increased in 79% of organizations. Moreover,Kaufmann and Kock (2022) demonstrate that the commitment to project management contributes significantly to the increased profitability of a project where, on average, an enhancement in project management efforts by one percent can boost the final profit margin by 0.15 percent. Standards developed by the PMI (2017) and the Association for Project Management (2012) point towards the growth of awareness and the acceptance of the need for formal project management techniques. ...
This qualitative case study investigates project management tools and techniques (PMTT) use within a small digital marketing agency, The Office of Experience (OX). The study problem centers on a need for greater PMTT governance and improved project delivery methods at the firm. Through a focus group, questionnaires, and interviews with OX project leaders, the research explores PMTT’s perceived influence on project schedules. Additionally, this research examines the interplay between OX’s client-centric, financially-driven, and agile business strategy and PMTT application across project lifecycles. Braun and Clarke’s six step thematic analysis process was applied to the data to reveal five key themes underscoring PMTT’s pivotal and adaptable role. Findings highlight the importance of tools providing schedule transparency, budgetary control, and quality planning. Moreover, business strategy priorities profoundly shape situational PMTT selection. Connecting key tools to company goals boosts efficiency, while flexible stage-gate plans allow teams to adapt execution when needed. Additional case study research in different agencies could help prove this point. The study recommends formal strategy PMTT and business strategy alignment matrices, adaptable PMTT toolkits, and post-project PMTT effectiveness reviews for project leaders and firms. Findings from this study show how a PMTT framework that is both standard and adaptable is important for the fast-paced world of advertising.
... 6 At this time, the established cooperative integration model facilitates knowledge sharing among members, stimulates team management efforts, and improves team performance and project returns. 75 At this time, central members in the centralized structure may use the information advantage and special power brought by their strategic position to advance their own interests, which affects the rapid improvement of team performance. 6,76 According to the above discussion, we have summarized the transformative characteristics of the impact of communication networks on team performance, which is consistent with previous research. ...
Purpose
Recent research has focused on the impact of communication networks on the performance of construction project teams, attempting empirical exploration from various social network analysis perspectives. However, there is still a significant gap in understanding the variations in performance and the mechanisms for teams using different communication networks. Drawing from organizational learning theory and social network theory, this study, based on the Input-Mediator-Output (IMO) model, explores the effects of the interaction between centralization and tie strength in communication networks on team performance, as well as the mediating mechanisms of knowledge sharing behavior and team resilience performance in engineering project teams.
Methods
Drawing on classic group communication experiment, we design an online communication and collaboration platform to simulate the execution of a construction engineering project. Finally, data was collected through the communication experiment with 720 participants, and hypotheses were tested using ANOVA and PROCESS.
Results
The results indicate that under conditions of weak tie strength, centralized communication networks yield higher performance. Conversely, under conditions of strong tie strength, decentralized communication networks demonstrate superior performance. Furthermore, this study also verifies the mediating role of knowledge sharing behavior and team resilience performance when tie strength is strong.
Conclusion
This study focuses on engineering project team, exploring the evolutionary development of knowledge sharing behavior and team resilience performance from the perspective of the interaction of communication network structural characteristics, as well as the paths to enhancing team performance. Our research results highlight the interactive effects of structural indicators and relational indicators of communication networks, revealing the mechanism by which the structure of communication networks impacts team performance. Additionally, from the perspectives of forming and timely adjusting team communication models, and motivating and supporting employee communication behavior, our study provides practical insights for project managers and relevant administrators.
... Jain et al. (2010) Kauffman and Kock (2022), highlight that impact of project management effort is higher for more complex projects. (Kaufmann & Kock, 2022) RDI projects typically generate multiple collaborative outputs by a group of heterogeneous and autonomous partners (Klessova et al., 2022), and especially EU projects are implemented under stringent agreements and provisions. ...
Success factors for managing European Union-funded research, development and innovation projects is rather uncharted territory and scarce publications exist, even though considering that the H2020 funding was nearly €80 billion, and Horizon Europe is €95,5 billion. Managing these types of projects has been referred to as ‘managing the unmanageable’, which indicates importance of our study. The aim of this study was to gather input via survey from both project coordinators and partners by assessing factors in five categories of good practices, skills, characteristics and tools of project management, and coordination for successful project implementation. A total of 118 persons replied to the survey who have experience from Horizon 2020 or Horizon Europe funded project(s). Over 80 factors were assessed and rated by the participants. Via standard statistical analysis, a top three lists were created for the different categories from both project partners and coordinators perspectives. A combination of 15 top success factors was formed. Furthermore, to emphasise the practicality of the results, an overarching framework was formed where we propose three prioritised key success factors that research, development, and innovation project management of should focus on. The three key success factors are communication, trust, and collaboration. Communication and trust are further traced down to the coordinator and consortium levels. Active communication and good listening skills are key. Mutual trust is built through high motivation, competence, and active approach to dedicated project activities and roles. Efficient collaboration is reached by nourishing inclusivity and culture, creating a productive environment, and good administrative practices.
... This can achieve efficient and rapid collaborative work, especially for highly innovative tasks. This strategy meets all organizational member interests and requirements, aiding in achieving strategic objectives [87,88]. The strength of a decentralized structure is that it encourages more members to share knowledge and contribute insights to collective decision making. ...
A PBO is a temporary organization formed by assembling members with diverse experiences and backgrounds, aimed at achieving specific innovation goals. Constructing a reasonable communication network structure and enhancing organizational synergy are effective ways to promote the sustainable development of the system. This study, based on the Input–Process–Output (IPO) model and social network analysis, utilized a group collaboration platform to conduct a three-stage communication experiment on 685 construction project managers. Under two organizational sizes, the internal mechanism of how communication networks with two levels of centralization influence task performance were tested. The results indicate that in the case of a smaller organizational size, PBOs using a decentralized communication network tend to achieve higher task performance. However, as the organizational size expands, PBOs employing a centralized communication network may surpass in task performance. Additionally, we found that with the expansion of organizational size, bootleg innovation behaviors of organizational members are continually stimulated, further enhancing collective task performance. This study, based on the evolution of communication network parameters, explores the structural characteristics of organizational communication networks and the mechanisms underlying the emergence of bootleg innovation behaviors. It delineates the key pathways for improving collective task performance. The findings can provide a scientific reference for the organizational evolution and development of engineering project management.
... Using this model the authors examine the relationship between project management effort and project profitability in engineer-to-order projects with varying degrees of complexity, finding that higher project complexity poses a risk to project profitability. Nevertheless, Kaufmann and Kock (2022) argue that the impact of project management on profitability becomes more significant as project complexity increases, ultimately resulting in higher returns for more complex projects. An empirical study of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge project (Qiu, Chen, Sheng and Cheng, 2019) to investigate the emergence and impact of institutional complexity on project outcomes and actors' behavior identifies regulatory, political, social, cultural, evolutionary, and relational complexity as sources of institutional complexity. ...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786323001229
Abstract:
Competitive pressures and the need for innovation are shaping strategic partnerships. These partnerships share knowledge, collaborate in project activities, and make joint decisions to achieve complex project objectives. However, achieving effective collaboration in strategic alliances is challenging due to miscommunication, missing skills, missing resources, and lack of trust. This study aims to propose a conceptual model based on hypotheses extracted from the literature review, to investigate the effect of knowledge criteria, complexity, and trust between partners on innovation and project success. We analyzed the model using a survey filled by managers of European complex projects. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to analyze the data. Our results show the significant impact of innovation on the success of the projects, the significant impacts of similarity and complementarity of knowledge on trust between partners, and also the considerable impact of project complexity and trust on innovation.
... The phenomenon of projectification is visible in public organizations and companies, which initiate, plan, execute and control their work efforts through single projects or series of projects. Both project leaders and project personnel need versatile project management understanding, competence, and skills to succeed in a projectified society where organizations and companies demand highly skilled project personnel to accomplish a specific goal, help improve project performance and outcomes (Ballesteros-Sánchez et al., 2019;Kaufmann & Kock, 2022). The jobs growth and talent gap identified in project-oriented job roles indicate that there is an urgent need of educated project managers in organizations (PMI, 2017). ...
The earned value management (EVM) is a project management method for monitoring and controlling project expenditure and progress. Teaching EVM is challenging as the method may appear theoretical, mathematical, and disconnected from the uncertainty of real-life projects. Educational games have been suggested as one method to influence students’ motivation and to teach relevant skills with practice-based and intriguing approaches. This study examines how educational games can be used to teach complex project management phenomena. The research process of this study follows a one-group, posttest-only, quasi-experimental design. We conducted a quasi-experiment using an educational game and related learning activities designed to teach EVM to 39 university students. As part of the experiment the students wrote reflective essays of their perceptions and learning experiences, which were analyzed using qualitative content analysis methods. This data was complemented by students’ feedback survey regarding the achievement of learning outcomes and presented as summative descriptive statistics. Our findings indicate that GBL methods are suitable for teaching and learning EVM, because they prepare learners to deal with project uncertainty, provide challenges and also repetition. Our findings indicate that learners’ holistic project management understanding and skills improved, because the GBL solution demonstrated the importance of managing unexpected events, re-planning the project and making evidence-based decisions. This study provides new knowledge on how game-based learning (GBL) can be applied to teach and learn project management methods such as EVM.
... Также в рамках исследования отдельных элементов успешной практики проектного управления следует выделить следующий тезис: внедрение в практику менеджмента более сложных проектов приносит зарубежным компаниям больше прибыли. В данном отношении исследователи К. Кауфман и А. Кок отмечают, что руководство фирм может нивелировать более высокую сложность разрабатываемых проектов и стратегических программ развития предприятий за счет улучшения самих процессов проектного управления [8]. ...
... Research has tested their moderating role between characteristics like dividend policy, value, export performance, and profitability (Banalieva & Sarathy, 2011;Safari & Saleh, 2020). Even factors inside organizations like complexity and project management effort can act as contingencies shaping the profitability relationship (Feng & Fay, 2020;Kaufmann & Kock, 2022;Kazanjian & Drazin, 1990). Contingency theory thus provides a meaningful framework for understanding how various banking and environmental factors potentially strengthen or weaken linked relationships. ...
This study examined the influence of gender diversity on capital structure decisions among Ethiopian banks from 2010 to 2022. Clarifying the relationships between board composition and strategic financing choices carries academic and practical significance. Research questions focused on whether representation impacts leverage levels and the consistency of effects across contexts. The study aimed to address gaps in understanding governance’s implications in developing markets like Ethiopia. Annual reports of 15 established banks provided data on leverage, gender diversity percentages, board size and other governance traits, profitability metrics, and bank-specific characteristics. Panel data techniques, including GMM regression, addressed endogeneity concerns. Key findings found gender diversity consistently correlated with lower debt utilization, aligning with notions of improved monitoring. However, board size revealed nuanced relationships dependent on strategic considerations. The larger bank scale did not definitively elevate borrowing as predicted, indicating contextual contingencies warrant examination. Profitability is positively associated with leverage, as anticipated based on theoretical underpinnings. The research provides initial insights yet highlights avenues for deeper contextualized analyses. Continued learning promises to further our understanding of diversity’s strategic implications and empower balanced policies that leverage inclusion’s advantages.
... Until the mid-1980s, the project management field was largely devoted to engineering, construction, defence and information technology challenges; only recently has it begun to develop research in administrative field and, consequently, behavioural domains (Turner et al., 2013). In this sense, authors such as Kaufmann and Kock (2022) examined the relationship among project management effort, complexity and profitability. Furthermore, Muñoz-Villamizar et al. (2021) mapped the operations in project management, and Turner et al. (2013) examined the interactions as influences and contributions between the nine schools of thought in project management. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to verify how distributed cognition enhances collaborative problem-solving in the context of projects.
Design/methodology/approach
Using qualitative research and in-depth interviews, a sample of 32 project managers with experience in traditional and agile methods acting in Brazil and internationally participated in the research process. The analysis process, utilising coding techniques, involved stages: open, axial, coding and selective coding. These stages encompassed the evaluation of categories based on a hierarchy, in order to determine an appropriate level of abstraction that properly explains theoretical findings.
Findings
The results indicate that distributed team cognition is significant for collaborative problem-solving. The data from the interviews allowed the proposal of a model of cognition, and the identification of the elements that support it.
Practical implications
Understand how aspects of distributed team cognition can impact the behaviours of the project professional and contribute to problem-solving in the project environment.
Originality/value
The elements observed affects the collaborative problem-solving by presenting a model of distributed cognition, which is composed by directed communication, collective interaction, trust building and collaborative behaviour.
... According to several authors, including Kaufmann and Kock (2022) and Georgiades (2022), structuring activities within projects enables the resolution of complex problems that are precisely defined and have a strong innovative nature. This process involves the contribution of diverse specialists from various organizational units within the same structure, who are temporarily integrated into an autonomous organizational network parallel to the formal organizational structure. ...
... An empirical study of technology projects in an engineering company was recounted by Kaufmann and Kock (2022). It was established that project management effort increased in importance as the complexity of the project increased. ...
The requirement to achieve the successful implementation and
operation of technology is more urgent than ever, given the changes to society imposed by the pandemic and post-pandemic events. The identification of critical factors for the success of technology has become paramount for organisations, irrespective of their sector. This paper accesses a literature review of current and seminal sources together with empirical research to discern a framework for examining the topic. A thematic analysis was performed to identify the key areas for critical project success factors. A summary of these areas for practice was then formulated, in order to assist both practitioners and academics in this sphere.
Critical Success Factors (CSFs) in Technology Management are
defined as the principal areas requiring satisfactory results in order to ensure the successful delivery of systems’ objectives. The use of ‘hard’, namely objective, and ‘soft’, namely subjective, information can be required to measure these factors. CSFs are also dynamic, in that they may change over time and thus require ongoing reflection and revaluation, to potentially redefine them in order to accommodate the organisation’s current environment.
A semi-structured interview was held with an experienced project
manager. The main themes were then discerned, using an inductive, grounded approach. The focus was on determining the critical factors for change management, as applied in this sphere.
... Project management is an integral component of management, be it in a period of change, in developing new products, in penetrating new markets or, vice versa, in declining activities, because "project management takes a key role in product development projects since it coordinates the required decisions regarding project goals, planning, and team" (Kaufmann &Kock, 2022). ...
The article contains a review of the unique Ukrainian experience of launched and implemented projects in the conditions of a global risk, i. e. the war. It is highlighted that the large-scale invasion of the Russian Federation on the Ukrainian territory caused global threats and risks for public and business organizations and the Ukrainian society as a whole. The emphasis is made on top innovative projects of Ukraine launched and implemented (or being rapidly developed) due to the intensive use of digitalized processes. The authors presented a review of global reforms in the areas of strategic importance for Ukraine: development of road infrastructures in Ukraine, modernization of heath protection sector, reduction of Ukraine’s dependence on energy imports (especially on Russia), development of digitalized processes, improvement of the education quality and bringing the domestic education system in conformity with European standards. These reforms involved the development of megaprojects that could be successfully implemented several years before the beginning of the war and continue to be extensively used in daily activities of Ukrainian citizens. The issue of big data implementation as a useful ground for the successful accomplishment of projects in the conditions of war and the future postwar period is elaborated on.
... The agile approach has been found to positively impact two project success measures: efficiency and overall stakeholder satisfaction against organizational goals (Serrador & Pinto, 2015). Only recently, project profitability, one of the crucial project success measures for external projects, was causally linked to PM effort, other studies provided correlational evidence (Kaufmann & Kock, 2022). ...
Hybrid project management (HPM) combines traditional and agile methods, fusing predictive and adaptive approaches. There is only fragmented knowledge about the appropriateness of the hybrid approach and the differences between existing HPM models. To deepen and expand an understanding of HPM, our systematic literature review analysed the advantages, disadvantages, drivers, and barriers of HPM, synthesised the results, and proposed five themes (methodology, project, team, customer and organisation) based on 4,623 abstracts and 72 full papers. The main original output of our review is a comprehensive overview of HPM models described so far in the scientific literature featuring 22 different hybrid models including the identification of their design patterns and nine additional metamodels. The critical challenges for future research are better methodological support of HPM, evaluation of the success of the hybrid approach, and further empirical research to broaden insights into the usage of HPM.
... Table 1 presents an overview of some recent flood disasters in Nigeria, as summarized by Ismail et al. [16]. According to some of the world's top experts on project management, understanding an effective PMS and putting it into practice is vitally important to the success of any project [17]. According to the literature, project management has not been as effective as it might have been in terms of project delivery and improvement [8,18]. ...
Emphasizing the need to provide a coordinated flood management strategy in the country and avoid acting in an isolated way when it occurs, improving the attitude of flood control during floods, and controlling floods with comprehensive analysis are among the main purposes of the current study. In this study, the environment’s physical, technological, social, economic, and political characteristics are considered to assess the urban flood risk. This study entails a discussion of flood hazard control in Benin City, the capital city of Edo State of Nigeria. The research methodology involves employing both interviews and questionnaire distribution. First, three key persons involved in flood control are interviewed at the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), which coordinates disaster risk reduction in the state, and then, the responses are classified into themes that are used to prepare the questionnaire to be distributed in four main regions. The questionnaires are distributed to the employees in institutions concerned with flood control and to the general population living in the region. Based on the obtained results from the interviews, some methods that could be applicable in controlling flooding in the region are listed. The results showed that the most important ones are flood warning systems, flood prevention through using the building resilient infrastructure and community programs, protection and mitigation through using natural processes, and strategic implementation of a flood emergency plan through sustainability.
... Monitoring performance is indeed a critical component of NPD project management (Bukoye, Ejohwomu, Roehrich & Too, 2022;Carbonell-Foulquié, Munuera-Aleman & Rodrıguez-Escudero, 2004) as it allows for better control of the resources allocated (Taipaleenmaki, 2014) to ensure that objectives are met (Richard, Devinney, Yip & Johnson, 2009;Tidd, Bessant & Pavitt, 2006). Project management is thus perceived as a useful method for the planning, executing and monitoring of NPD projects (Kaufmann & Kock, 2022;Sonta--Draczkowska & Mrozewski, 2019). As any other projects, NPD projects are temporary, aim to create a unique result (a new product) and follow a series of stages, from project initiating to project closing (PMI, 2017). ...
New product development projects enhance the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises but carry a high risk of failure. Monitoring the progress of these projects’ activities, using specific performance indicators, helps to reduce this risk. However, studies in small and medium enterprises are limited and they do not identify appropriate and useful indicators to help controlling the resources allocation. By mobilizing the literature on project management and innovation, we studied the processes adopted in five small and medium enterprises that have experienced success in new product development to identify the activities as well as the indicators used to make decisions about continuing or stopping the project. The results show that the activities and indicators are adapted to the context of each enterprise, such as the availability of certain resources and expertise and the proximity of the customers, and that taking these indicators into account ensures better management of new product development projects and reduces failure rates.
This study aims to investigate the influence of internal and external factors on the Islamic Commercial Banks' Profitability in Indonesia. The internal factors consist of Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Financing to-Deposits (FDR), Non-Performing Loan (NPF), Cost Inefficiency (BOPO), and Net Operating Profit Margin (NPM) meanwhile the external factors consist of Third-Party Deposits (DPK) and Interest rate. Profitability is one of the important factors in the success and continuity of a company's operations. The method used is regression analysis using monthly data from June 2018 to June 2023. The data used include CAR, FDR, NPF, BOPO, NOM, DPK, and ROA from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) meanwhile the interest rate through the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) website. The results showed that CAR, FDR, and Interest Rate did not affect profitability. NPF and NOM have a positive effect on profitability meanwhile BOPO and DPK have a negative effect on profitability.
Management of Information Technology projects is a trending topic in Sri Lanka, due to considerable number of project failures that happened during the last decade. Most of the failures happened during the project management process as projects get affected due to various changes. All the processes handled by humans and therefore, errors can be happened, but if project managers can handle the changes in a project with a proper change management process, it will be a concrete reason to get success in an IT project. The author used the deductive approach for the research and with the help of existing literature, the researcher has identified the factors that affect the change management of IT projects as change of project scope, budget, managers, quality, resource allocation and technology. With those findings, author came up with the conceptual model followed by hypothesis to proceed with primary data gathering using quantitative method. It is based on Colombo District as the population of IT Industry in Sri Lanka is huge. Stratified random sampling technique is used to determine a sample that can gather data with high reliability and accuracy. Survey is limited IT professionals with direct and indirect experience in project management. Experience and good education qualifications are also considered to get a good interpretation on Project Management integrated with change management. Secondary data is extracted from the literature available. Reliability and validity tests have performed to assess the validity of questionnaire. The Pearson correlation and liner regression have executed to evaluate hypothesis in relation to each independent variable with dependent variable. Analysis of multiple regression is done to assess the impact of all independent variables towards the dependent variable. The results of the study showed that there is a strong relationship between the independent variables towards the dependent variable and the impact is evaluated deeply. Based on that further recommendation are depicted together with contribution to both theory and future studies by filling the gaps in existing literature.
Clip thinking in Artificial intelligence is the tool Agile project management refers to the practice of breaking down a large project into smaller, manageable parts, or “clips,” to plan, execute, and monitor the project more effectively. This approach is closely aligned with the principles of Agile project management, which emphasize flexibility, adaptability, and continuous improvement. By breaking a project down into clips, Agile teams can focus on one specific area at a time, allowing them to more effectively manage their resources, avoid scope creep, and deliver value to stakeholders timelier and more efficiently. The iterative nature of Agile allows for adjustments to be made to the project as it progresses, based on feedback and data-driven insights. Clip thinking also encourages collaboration and communication among team members, as they work together to identify the most critical areas of the project and prioritize their efforts accordingly. This approach helps ensure that everyone is working towards a shared goal and that progress is being made towards that goal regularly. Clip thinking is a valuable approach for Agile project management, as it helps teams to stay focused, agile, and responsive to changing needs and priorities throughout the project lifecycle. In the paper have been discussed clip thinking is a powerful approach to Agile project management because it allows teams to focus on delivering value to the customer in small, incremental steps. It also provides a framework for continuous feedback and iteration, which helps teams to adapt to changing requirements and deliver a final product that meets the customer’s needs.
У статті узагальнено й систематизовано існуючі підходи до визначення змісту та сутнісних відмінностей понять «ризик-менеджмент» та «управління ризиками». Надано авторське трактування термінів «ризик», «проєктний ризик», «управління проєктними ризиками» з позицій трансформації парадигми менеджменту та підвищення рівня економічної безпеки суб’єктів господарювання у сфері ІТ-індустрії. Запропоновано розглядати ризик-менеджмент з таких точок зору, як сучасну парадигму антикризового менеджменту ІТ-компанії; важливий чинник підвищення рівня економічної безпеки суб’єктів господарювання в ІТ-сфері; комплексний підхід до формування системи управління проєктними ризиками з урахуванням наслідків від кризових явищ та збройних конфліктів. Визначено стратегічні напрями вдосконалення управління проєктними ризиками ІТ-компаній з використанням ризик-орієнтованого підходу в умовах сучасних кризових ситуацій.
The challenge of achieving success in environmental projects persists for many organizations, and the reasons behind it are unclear. This study is aimed at investigating such reasons by testing the impact of corporate environmental identity, project complexity, and environmental intensity on environmental project success. The study seeks to provide practical recommendations to organizations to enhance their efforts to reduce environmental pollution. The study obtained data from sixteen experts of environmental project managers and applied the fuzzy AHP, fuzzy hierarchical models, and fuzzy TOPSIS techniques for empirical findings. The findings show that organizational identity for the environment and environment project complexity are the key triggers for the success of the environment in the Chinese context. Moreover, it is discovered that team functional diversity is critical to team absorptive capability. This research identified links that offer managers information on prospective selection and project improvement models, with enhanced capacity in leadership dimensions leading to increased project management success. The study also suggested several implications for environmental project success and developing pro-environmental behavior among project managers.
The human factor in agility: Exploring employee dedication in agile project organizations
Este estudio tiene como objetivo explorar el grado de desarrollo de la cultura de la calidad en el contexto de la gestión de proyectos en Colombia. La investigación se lleva a cabo mediante un enfoque mixto mediante un diseño concurrente. Se examinan cuatro dimensiones de la cultura de calidad en la gestión de proyectos: enfoque al cliente, liderazgo y comunicación, talento humano, y desempeño del proyecto. Los resultados indican que la mayoría de los encuestados otorgan gran importancia al establecimiento de requerimientos claros, parámetros y a una adecuada documentación. Además, destacan la relevancia de la comunicación efectiva y el desarrollo de habilidades blandas. Estos hallazgos sugieren que, además de la formación técnica en gerencia de proyectos, es esencial invertir en habilidades profesionales generales, como comunicación, trabajo en equipo, liderazgo y adaptabilidad. La investigación proporciona una valiosa perspectiva sobre los factores clave que contribuyen al éxito en la gestión de calidad en proyectos y ofrece recomendaciones para mejorar la formación y prácticas en el área. En última instancia, este estudio resalta la necesidad de desarrollar una cultura de calidad orientada a la mejora, en el que todos los miembros del equipo del proyecto se encuentren involucrados.
Seit nun fast 20 Jahren beschäftigt sich die Forschungsgruppe Multiprojektmanagement (MPM) mit Erfolgsfaktoren und Best Practices im MPM. Die 10. Multiprojektmanagement-Benchmarking-Studie 2022 befasste sich mit zukunftsfähiger Unternehmensführung und fokussierte hierbei die Bereiche Nachhaltigkeit und Projektleitende. 120 Projektportfolios aus unterschiedlichen Industrien nahmen an der Studie teil und beantworteten Fragen zu ihrem MPM und den Fokusthemen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Nachhaltigkeitsintegration noch wenig ausgereift im MPM ist. Portfolios, die hier Vorreiter sind, können sich jedoch einen kompetitiven Vorteil sichern. Zudem sind unterstützende Personalmaßnahmen für Projektleitende erfolgsversprechend.
Purpose
Megaproject performance measurement (MPM) has received great attention in the project management community, but it primarily focused on the design of performance measures or frameworks. Yet, whether MPM utilization can improve megaproject performance and how project actors use MPM to improve megaproject performance is less well understood. This study aims to investigate whether and how the use of MPM can contribute to better megaproject performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Through the lens of the lever of control, this study conceptualizes MPM utilization as diagnostic use and interactive use. A holistic research model and related hypotheses integrating MPM use, project complexity and megaproject performance were established. The model was validated using a partial square-structural equation modeling method.
Findings
Based on 214-megaproject data collected through a questionnaire survey in China, the results show positive effects of diagnostic use and interactive use on megaproject performance. Both, however, have substitutional interaction effects. The moderating results suggest that the higher project complexity weakens the positive effects of MPM utilization on megaproject performance.
Originality/value
This study advances megaprojects performance measurement and management literature by validating the value of MPM utilization on performance. It also presents practical implications for project managers to improve performance by appropriate MPM utilization.
Milk tea or Bubble tea is currently growing and becoming entirely developed. Through our investigation into how milk tea shops are constructed nowadays, we discovered that there are no precise plans for handling and building projects; instead, milk tea shops are merely created and controlled using manual solutions. Therefore, we utilize Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to separate and organize work objects throughout the project scope to address this issue. WBS also aids in minimizing project risks and job-related variations with the person in charge of that activity. Moreover, we used Microsoft Project software to effectively plan, organize, and finish the construction of a milk tea establishment in compliance with the initial budget and schedule. By doing this, we can better understand how to design and manage a project and ensure its success.
System dynamics (SD) applications in high-volume production operations are widely used, helping to define decision rules to reduce costs associated with the variance in planning orders and inventory. The exploitation of SD in engineer-to-order (ETO) project-oriented supply chains - e.g., in construction, shipbuilding, and capital goods - is less well established. Hence, this research reviews the literature that takes a systematic ETO perspective in modeling construction projects, exploiting SD approaches. To comprehensively identify and filter previously published works, we used a keyword searching method using Web of Science and Scopus databases. After applying relevant exclusion criteria, 143 papers were selected. Although previous reviews of ETO literature, more generally, have been done, this work contributes to the body of knowledge by specifically reviewing SD applications in ETO industries and providing insights by creating a categorization system by which to determine existing gaps. Articles are categorized into the classic four phases of a project: aggregated planning, preproject planning, project execution, and postdelivery. Analyses of the methods, attributes, and applications of SD were undertaken for each phase. Findings indicate that SD research covers the range of ETO industries, of which construction is the most dominant, demonstrating SD's high applicability. The wealth of case-orientated research in the construction field provides a solid foundation for further SD studies in the ETO field. Further research should focus on (1) developing a general ETO archetype for performance benchmarking and strategy development in construction projects; (2) introducing analytical tools, such as control theoretic approaches as found in manufacturing production planning and control design, to improve understanding of the ETO systems' dynamic behaviors; (3) developing cross-phase, cross-project, design-production integrated, aggregated planning models via hybrid techniques modeling, which can improve understanding of an ETO system's performance; and (4) improving model fidelity. We also provide a research agenda for each phase of the ETO production.
Jednym z potencjalnych czynników sukcesu projektów realizowanych we współpracy międzyorganizacyjnej, zidentyfikowanych przez autorów, jest zbieżność metodyk i standardów zarządzania projektami stosowanych przez współpracujące strony. Artykuł ma charakter koncepcyjny a jego celem jest prezentacja koncepcji badań empirycznych, dotyczących wpływu zbieżności wykorzystywanych metodyk na sukces projektu. Przegląd literatury pozwala na sformułowanie hipotezy badawczej, wskazującej, że zbieżność stosowanych przez partnerów projektu metodyk i standardów zarządzania projektami jest istotnym czynnikiem powodzenia wspólnego projektu. Sformułowana hipoteza badawcza będzie testowana w badaniach ankietowych w sektorze IT (n = 320).
[Open Access full-text version available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2022.11.002] This paper investigates the existing and missing connections between the concepts of project management success and organizational success. We build a theoretical framework of the concepts and elaborate on it by examining three innovation project cases—a smart-city project with little organizational success-driven performance measurement, a product development project with overly ambitious project management goals but an overall positive organizational impact, and an R&D project involving practically no project management performance measurement since organizational success was considered paramount. Our unit of analysis in these cases is performance measurement in terms of its alignment or misalignment of success. We contribute to the literature by (1) examining the linkage between organizational success and project performance criteria, (2) exhibiting the interrelations, dominance, and use of certain project performance measures in determining whether a project is successful, and (3) offering a framework for understanding how performance measurement can support success in project-based operations.
Purpose: The main objective of the research presented in this paper was to identify the
managerial competences of project team managers. In order to achieve this objective, the first
part of the paper explains the meaning of the term "project management" in the literature on
management and quality. The second part of the paper is devoted to an analysis of the conducted
research, on the basis of which an attempt is made to answer the question: which managerial
competences are key in the role of a project manager?
Design/methodology/approach: The research presented in this paper is based on the analysis
of the literature on project management and managerial competences. The studies in literature
also included secondary sources, which were communications from research of similar scope.
The combination of different research methods allowed to obtain a broader context of the
studied phenomenon and ensured a higher quality of the conducted research. The diversity of
methods was aimed at achieving a consistency of the empirical basis for the inference.
A diagnostic survey was adopted as the leading method. The remaining methods applied in the
paper were auxiliary (complementary).
Findings: An inseparable element of human life is change, which also accompanies enterprises
on a daily basis. The information about changes in the market and competitors, provided every
day, is a natural manifestation of economic life. Consequently, everyone has to improve their
operations in the area of products, technology and organisation in order to remain on the market.
As a result, every person, as well as every economic activity take actions aimed at achieving
the intended goals, facing new needs and challenges. The way to achieve the desired results is
a process known as a project. The efficient functioning of a project team requires the use of
appropriate management support methods and tools, systematic measurement, constant
comparison with competitors, removal of barriers and the exploitation of development
opportunities.
Research limitations/implications: In the future, research will be continued on a larger
research sample.
Practical implications: The paper presents the results of research carried out at a nationwide
telecommunications operator that employs several thousand people. This company is part of
a large capital group and, due to the group's communication policy, has reserved anonymity.
The findings are very interesting and encourage research on a larger scale. They are a valuable
source of information for managers responsible for the formation of project teams, the selection
of its members, their functioning and project implementation. On the other hand, for persons responsible for recruiting employees, the results may be useful in terms of developing a project
team manager's profile, in particular when identifying the key managerial competences.
Originality/value Based on empirical research, the paper proposes an original set of systemic
solutions for project management to improve organisational performance.
Project scholarship suggests that an increasing volume of activities in organizations, economies, and societies occurs in the form of temporary projects. Drawing on research on project value, we aim to build a contextual understanding of why business organizations choose to participate in projects. Discussing value creation, capture, and destruction patterns for the owner, project-based firm, and the temporary project domains of project organizing, we develop a typology of project value domains for business organizations. We contribute to the theory and debate in project studies, integrating the conversations on the projectification of economies and societies with the stream of work on project value.
Planning-performance theory suggests that formal planning has a positive impact on performance. Accordingly, traditional project management methodologies advocate formal planning as an essential process in any project. However, alternative recent project management methodologies (e.g., Agile) promote less focus on a formal planning process at the start of a project. In this article, we question when formal planning is effective, when it is counterproductive, and which planning approach (strategic or tactical) is more effective for various project risk levels and performance dimensions (efficiency and effectiveness). Results from analyzing 2002 projects suggest that strategic planning has a higher value than tactical planning. Furthermore, tactical planning has a negative impact on project efficiency in low-risk projects as it increases project duration and cost but adds little value. In practice, in low-risk projects, managers may limit their focus on counterproductive tactical practices, such as risk, and procurement planning, and focus instead on long-term strategic planning, such as human resources planning. Theoretically, this article sets boundaries of effectiveness for planning-performance theory and advances the literature on the planning fallacy.
Using a sample of 177 firms with matched dyads of middle managers and senior managers, we developed a model on the antecedents and consequences of project management competence retention (PMCR). Our results reveal that providing project managers formal developmental perspectives in project management, such as a career path or qualification opportunities, as well as establishing a formal lesson learned system both positively relate to PMCR. Moreover, our results show that PMCR is positively associated with average project success of the organization. Finally, our results confirm the substantial importance of average project success for overall business success in project-oriented organizations.
In recent years, there has been increasing pressure on the US federal government to reduce spending and improve the management of its technology projects. Mitigating the adverse impact of risks on the performance of these projects presents a significant challenge for its stakeholders. Our research examines this challenge in two steps. First, we identify and define a set of salient risks in federal technology projects-specifically, complexity risk and contracting risk in the planning process, and execution risk in the execution process. Next, we investigate whether higher levels of process maturity, assessed by the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) framework, mitigate the negative effect of project risks on project performance. The analysis of time-series data collected from 82 federal technology projects across 519 quarterly time periods indicates that each of the three types of risks has a significant negative effect on project performance. This finding highlights the practical significance of managing these risks in the federal technology project context. Further, we find that increasing levels of process maturity attenuate the negative effect of project risks on the performance of federal technology projects. However, the attenuation effects are consequential only at high levels of project risks; at low levels of project risk, increasing levels of process maturity can adversely affect project performance. To demonstrate the financial implications of increasing process maturity levels in federal technology projects, we examine the magnitude of project cost savings (and overruns) across different levels of CMMI and project risks. In summary, our study contributes to the sparse literature on public sector operations by addressing the understudied context of federal technology projects, and provides a nuanced examination of the implications of process maturity in managing the risk to performance relationship in such projects.
Modularity has the potential to impact various facets of new product introduction performance including product development lead time, frequency of new product introduction, on time introduction and product innovation. The impact of modularity on new product introduction performance however may vary for different levels of product and process complexity. This paper empirically investigates relationships between perceptual measures of product modularity, process modularity, and new product introduction performance and explores whether an objective product/process complexity measure moderates these relationships. Using survey-based methodology we probe both manufacturers of technically simple products and technically complex products. Hierarchical regression models are used to test hypotheses concerning the main effects of product and process modularity and the effects of their interactions with complexity on new product introduction performance. The results show that the main effect of product modularity was positive and its interaction with complexity was disordinal and negative, suggesting that the positive effect of product modularity on new product introduction performance is dampened when complexity is high. For process modularity, only the interaction effect (positive) was statistically significant and it was also disordinal in nature. Thus, the effect of process modularity on new product introduction performance is heightened when complexity is high. The implications of these findings are discussed and more specific theoretical and managerial implications are delineated by examining the impacts of these main and interaction effects on individual measures of new product introduction performance (frequency of new product introduction, product development lead times, product innovation, and on-time product launch).This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Benefits management (BM) and project management (PM) are two interrelated approaches to the success of projects. The literature, however, still lacks empirical evidence of the value of applying BM practices. Hence, it is aimed to test the impact of BM practices on the success of investments in projects, taking into consideration the impact of PM practices on that success. Since the results, based on 200 valid responses, suggest that a significant proportion of organisations adopt PM and BM concurrently, SEM was used. PM practices were not only found to influence project management success but also to affect project investment success. However, BM is found to be less significant and to have less impact on project investment success. Nevertheless, the probability of project success is enhanced significantly when PM and BM practices are combined together. Therefore, a governance based framework is developed to uncover the interweaving relationship between the two practices.
This study looks at the relationship between the use of a project management methodology (PMM) and project success, and the impact of project governance context on this relationship. A cross-sectional, world-wide, online survey yielded 254 responses. Analysis was done through factor analysis and moderated hierarchical regression analysis. The results of the study show that the application of a PMM account for 22.3% of the variation in project success, and PMMs that are considered sufficiently comprehensive to manage the project lead to higher levels of project success than PMMs that need to be supplemented for use by the project manager.
A fundamental assumption of project management practice and research is that using project management to achieve organizational objectives improves organizational performance. However, there is little published research that directly questions this assumption. This paper tests the hypothesis that using project management increases the productivity of small to medium enterprises, using data from two longitudinal surveys of Australian businesses with less than 200 staff members. These data were used to create models of the relationship between productivity and business skills using binary logistic regression. The models demonstrate that project management has a significant impact on small to medium enterprise productivity.
OVERVIEW: The business of technology firms depends on the successful delivery of projects. These projects can be complex and, some say, increasingly so. Assessing and proactively managing that complexity can benefit project delivery. Based on a systematic literature review and multistage field research, we sought to understand the nature of different dimensions of complexity and how they affect the development of a project. Working from that research, we generated a complexity assessment tool, which was tested initially with a global technology firm and then with a wider network of large organizations in other sectors. The result is a complexity-based view of project management that enables greater specificity in articulating, assessing, and coping with both generic complexities and particular context-dependent challenges.
This paper describes a process used to determine critical success factors that are felt to be predictive of successful project management. Full time managers who have had experience with projects were used to generate critical success factors that they felt to be crucial to successful project implementation. Ten factors were discovered that relate well to previous theoretical formulations in the literature. In addition, these ten factors have been linked together in an interdependent quasi-sequential framework. This research has provided the basis for developing a behavioral instrument to be used as a diagnostic for assessing the status of any project as determined by the ten factor model.
Product structure affects demand-supply chain (DSC) performance - this is almost self-evident. But how to develop better product structures? Which design alternative is the best among several options? Markets define the number of product variants needed. Therefore, limiting product variations is not a feasible solution. In our research, we made an effort to develop a method to guide product structure development and to quantify the comparison of alternative design implementations. We aimed at reducing both the operating costs and the asset costs without limiting the customer offering. This paper consists of four main parts. First, we define design principles. Second, we specify the metrics to measure how well the design principles are met in alternative product structures. Third, simulation results are described to evaluate the product structure metrics developed. Finally, based on our simulation results, we suggest design metrics that are useful to predict new product structures' implications for demand-supply chain cost efficiency. With the metrics ''number of different physical modules'' and ''dependency index'', it is possible to evaluate goodness of a product structure from the viewpoint of demand-supply chain efficiency. Therefore, the metrics can be used to guide new product development to reduce operative and asset costs in the demand-supply chain over the life cycle of a new product, without limiting customer offering.
Not many authors have attempted to classify projects according to any specific scheme, and those who have tried rarely offered extensive empirical evidence. From a theoretical perspective, a traditional distinction between radical and incremental innovation has often been used in the literature of innovation, and has created the basis for many classical contingency studies. Similar concepts, however, did not become standard in the literature of projects, and it seems that theory development in project management is still in its early years. As a result, most project management literature still assumes that all projects are fundamentally similar and that "one size fits all." The purpose of this exploratory research is to show how different types of projects are managed in different ways, and to explore the domain of traditional contingency theory in the more modern world of projects. This two-step research is using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and two data sets to suggest a conceptual, two-dimensional construct model for the classification of technical projects and for the investigation of project contingencies. Within this framework, projects are classified into four levels of technological uncertainty, and into three levels of system complexity, according to a hierarchy of systems and subsystems. The study provides two types of implications. For project leadership it shows why and how management should adapt a more project-specific style. For theory development, it offers a collection of insights that seem relevant to the world of projects as temporary organizations, but are, at times, different from classical structural contingency theory paradigms in enduring organizations. While still exploratory in nature, this study attempts to suggest new inroads to the future study of modern project domains.
The analysis and implementation of mass customization (MC) systems has received growing consideration by researchers and practitioners since the late 1980s. In this paper we update the literature review on MC presented in a previous paper (Da Silveira, G., Borenstein, D., Fogliatto, F.S., 2001. Mass customization: literature review and research directions. International Journal of Production Economics, 72 (1), 1–13), and identify research gaps to be investigated in the future. Major areas of research in MC, and journals in which works have been published are explored through summary statistics. The result is a concise compendium of the relevant literature produced on the topic in the past decade.
This article highlights the characteristics of articles on project success published between 1986 and 2004 in the Project Management Journal (PMJ) and the International Journal of Project Management (IJPM). The analysis covers references, concepts like project management success, project success, success criteria, and success factors; features of the samples, data collection, and analysis techniques used; and professional disciplines. The results show that research on project success is characterized by diversity except in epistemological and methodological perspectives. The article suggests a shift to project, portfolio, and program success and concludes with a discussion on the traditional state of the research, criticizes its assumptions, and offers alternative metaphors and recommendations for future research.
In project management, high levels of risk are considered to be a significant obstacle for project success. This paper investigates whether improving the project plan can lead to improved success for high-risk projects. A quality of planning index was designed to explore how the presence of high risk affects the quality of planning and project success. The index includes managerial aspects such as costs, human resources, procurement and quality, as well as organizational support aspects based on organization maturity models. In a field study based on data collected from 202 project managers regarding their most recent projects, it was found that the levels of risk at the beginning of projects has no effect on their final success. Drilling down to find an explanation for this surprising phenomenon, we found that in the presence of high risk, project managers significantly improve their project plans. Hence, in high-risk projects, better project plans improve all four dimensions of project success: schedule overrun, cost overrun, technical performance and customer satisfaction. However, in low-risk projects, better project plans did not contribute to reducing schedule or cost overruns. In other words, while endless risk management tools are developed, we found that improving the project plan is a more effective managerial tool in dealing with high-risk projects. Finally, the paper presents the most common planning tools currently being used in high-risk projects.
This article develops a model of a project as a payoff function that depends on the state of the world and the choice of a sequence of actions. A causal mapping, which may be incompletely known by the project team, represents the impact of possible actions on the states of the world. An underlying probability space represents available information about the state of the world. Interactions among actions and states of the world determine the complexity of the payoff function. Activities are endogenous, in that they are the result of a policy that maximizes the expected project payoff.
A key concept is the adequacy of the available information about states of the world and action effects. We express uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity in terms of information adequacy. We identify three fundamental project management strategies: instructionism, learning, and selectionism. We show that classic project management methods emphasize adequate information and instructionism, and demonstrate how modern methods fit into the three fundamental strategies. The appropriate strategy is contingent on the type of uncertainty present and the complexity of the project payoff function. Our model establishes a rigorous language that allows the project manager to judge the adequacy of the available project information at the outset, choose an appropriate combination of strategies, and set a supporting project infrastructure—that is, systems for planning, coordination and incentives, and monitoring.
Benefits management has recently gained in popularity but remains difficult to implement and conduct in organizations. Inspired by the practice perspective and building on an exploratory study, we reveal that defining benefits is a complex task, as the concept of benefit is understood in a variety of ways. We also expose the evolving nature of benefits management, highlighting that benefits management is far from a linear activity. Our study uncovers some of the social and political aspects of benefits management, which have up until now been neglected and may be connected to the challenges of this activity.
In a world where new product development (NPD) can differentiate winners from losers, reducing NPD cycle-times is a competitive agenda. For complex NPD projects, traditional planning techniques proved to be insufficient for dealing with uncertainty in the current business environment, often failing to provide realistic planning. This study contributes to both the literature and practice by proposing regression models to explore the potential of product complexity and prototyping lead-times for time prediction in NPD projects. Firstly, we identified an NPD reference that could help understand the NPD projects behavior for complex mechatronic products. Secondly, we developed validation procedures to calculate and test our variables. Specifically, several procedures were necessary to reach a value that represented a trade-off analysis of design issues to product complexity. Thirdly, we identified a company for sourcing data for a first falsifiability test to our models. The models presented results up to a 4% error rate, suggesting, compared to previous literature, that the variables explored in this research and how they were handled could provide good alternatives for managers to refine development plans and have more assertive launch dates for new products. Our main contribution is empirical evidence of the comparative influence of product complexity and prototyping manufacturing on time prediction for NPD projects. Researchers can derive further investigations on mathematical modeling or the way to calculate input variables.
The discipline of project management has evolved over the years, yet projects still run into trouble, failing entirely, running late, or not delivering expected benefits. Program and portfolio managers need assistance identifying potentially troubled projects while they are being delivered, allowing time to intervene. We report on our investigation of whether project status reports from IT project portfolios can be used to predict projects that may be trending into trouble ahead of time. We found that this initial approach resulted in a high degree of accurate predictions opening new avenues of research in predicting project progress and health.
Over the last 20 years, research on the management of exploratory projects has shown the need for flexible execution methods. However, while the managers involved in such projects recognize the need for flexibility in the means, supervising managers are reluctant to provide flexibility in evolving project goals. Indeed, supervising managers tighten control rather than loosen it when projects become more uncertain. We show empirical evidence of how this resistance emerges in the gray area between “being flexible on the means” and “losing control.” We also offer proposals on how to make exploration projects more acceptable to top management.
While prior research considers project complexity as a double-edged sword, researchers and practitioners still remain unclear whether project complexity serves as productive or counterproductive ingredient for project performance. Our research brings clarity on the dynamic nature of complexity-performance relationship by integrating social exchange theory with recent developments in project management research to develop and test a novel framework involving interactive roles of social skills and political skills in software-projects. Regardless of calls for further empirical studies, researchers have predominantly neglected the fundamental role of human efforts and human interaction in outlining performance particularly in complex projects. Drawing on a survey based sample of 242 project managers and use of variance based structural equation modeling, the findings illuminate theoretical and practical contributions in better understanding complexities in software-projects performance. In addition, prioritizing human-centric factors i.e. social skills and political skills in supporting complexity- performance relationship further enhances contributions of this research. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd and Association for Project Management and the International Project Management Association
Addressing endogeneity can be a challenging task given the different sources of endogeneity and their impacts on empirical results. While premier business journals typically expect authors to rigorously address endogeneity, this expectation is relatively new to many Operations Management (OM) scholars, as exemplified by a recent editorial in Journal of Operations Management that calls for more rigorous treatment for endogeneity. This study serves two purposes. First, we summarize recent OM literature with respect to the treatment for endogeneity by reviewing studies published in leading OM journals between 2012 and 2017. The review provides evidence that endogeneity problems have received increasing attention from OM scholars. However, we also find some common problems that may render the chosen techniques for addressing endogeneity less effective and potentially lead to biased analysis results. Second, since instrumental variable regression is the most prevalent technique for dealing with endogeneity in the OM literature according to our review, we provide an empirical illustration tailored to OM researchers for using instrumental variable regression in the post-design (data analysis) phase. Using variables from a publicly available healthcare dataset, our analysis sheds light on the importance of examining instruments' quality and triangulating results based on more than one test/estimator.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of complexity and its management from an OM perspective, building on and extending the systematic literature review published in this journal in 2011, and provide a foundation for exploring the interactions between complexities and responses.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes a subjective view of complexity, focusing on the “lived experience” of managers. It takes an updated systematic literature review, and demonstrates the comprehensiveness of a framework to classify complexities of projects. It reports the findings from 43 workshops with over 1,100 managers.
Findings
First, the complexity framework is effective in aiding understanding. Second, and somewhat unexpectedly, managers were able to identify strategies to reduce the majority of complexities that they faced. Third, the workshops identified a typology of responses to residual complexities.
Research limitations/implications
The framework has demonstrated its utility, and a gap in understanding emergent complexities is identified. The framework further presents the opportunity to explore the recursive nature of complexity and response.
Practical implications
This paper provides a framework that is both comprehensive and comprehensible. The authors demonstrate that complexities can be reduced and provide a means to assess responses to residual complexities, including potentially matching managers to projects.
Originality/value
This work extends the previous systematic review combined with extensive empirical data to generate findings that are having impact in practice, and have the potential to strengthen a relatively neglected area within OM. A research agenda is suggested to support this.
This paper provides an overview of control function (CF) methods for solving the problem of endogenous explanatory variables (EEVs) in linear and nonlinear models. CF methods often can be justifi ed in situations where "plug- in" approaches are known to produce inconsistent estimators of parameters and partial effects. Usually, CF approaches require fewer assumptions than maximum likelihood, and CF methods are computationally simpler. The recent focus on estimating average partial effects, along with theoretical results on nonparametric identifi cation, suggests some simple, fl exible parametric CF strategies. The CF approach for handling discrete EEVs in nonlinear models is more controversial but approximate solutions are available. © 2015 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.
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.
This study aims to investigate the effects of project management (PM) on project success under the parameters of scheduling, cost, and margins. We adopt a contingency approach that evaluates the complexity of the project, according to 4 categories, the effect of industry sector and countries. The methodological approach involved a longitudinal field survey in 3 countries (Argentina, Brazil, and Chile) with business units from 10 different industries over a 3-year period, and data from a total of 1387 projects were analyzed. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. The results show a significant and positive relationship between the response variable schedule with PM enablers and project management efforts in training and capabilities development. Project complexity has a significant effect on 2 aspects of project success: margin and schedule. Both cross-country and cross-industry analyses show a significant explanatory effect.
Project risk management aims at reducing the likelihood of project failure. To manage risk in project portfolios, research suggests adopting a perspective that is wider than the individual project risk. The results from a hierarchical multiple regression analysis on a sample of 177 project portfolios suggest that formal risk management at the project level and integration of risk information at the portfolio level are positively associated with overall project portfolio success. Simultaneous risk management at both levels increases this positive effect. Furthermore, risk management at the project level is more important for R&D-dominated project portfolios, whereas the integration of risk information is more important with high levels of turbulence and portfolio dynamics.
Strategic Management Journal 2014 discusses quantitative empirical analysis in strategic management. One of the trademark of strategic management research is the use of unique data; attention paid during data collection to potential pitfalls in empirical estimation can pay off later by enabling simpler or more robust analyses. Decisions regarding which archival and survey data to collect or obtain access to can benefit from an understanding of subsequent empirical issues that such data may present. Beyond the presentation of facts, good data enable the use of simpler statistical approaches, such as comparisons of means and medians and other relatively simple parametric and non-parametric statistics. Regression analysis is required in order to assess the role of specific variables while holding other variables constant. Sample selection correction can help to control for bias due to a nonrandom sample, generally using two-stage estimation.
The management of uncertainty during a project’s implementation is not well understood. In general, uncertainties are treated similar to project risks by practitioners and by scholars as negative events threatening a project’s implementation. Following the arguments of economists, uncertainties are a necessary condition for the existence of opportunities. This research aims to identify specific classes of opportunities and specific contextual situations under which they occur during the implementation of projects. An exploratory case study of 20 projects was conducted. Different categories of opportunities and uncertainties were identified. All identified opportunities were connected with at least one situation of uncertainty but not every situation of uncertainty relates to opportunities. The cases unveiled that risks are misperceived as uncertainties and some situations of project improvements were misperceived as opportunities. Our study sheds light on the limitations of classic project management and suggests that future project management education needs to include a deeper exposure to business context to better equip project managers for the challenge and opportunity posed by uncertainty during project implementation.
Understanding and dealing with the unknown is a major challenge in project management. An extensive body of knowledge − theory and technique − exists on the “known unknowns,” i.e., uncertainties which can be described probabilistically and addressed through the conventional techniques of risk management. Although some recent studies have addressed projects where the existence of unknown unknowns (unk unks) is readily apparent or may be assumed given the type of project − e.g., new product development or new process implementation − very little work has been reported with respect to projects in general on how a project manager might assess its vulnerability to unk unks. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework to deal with (i.e., recognize and reduce) knowable unk unks in project management. The framework is supported by insights from a variety of theories, case analyses, and experiences. In this framework, we first present a model of the key factors–relating to both project design and behavioral issues–that increase the likelihood of unk unks and a set of propositions linking these factors to unk unks. We then present a set of design and behavioral approaches that project managers could adopt to reduce knowable unk unks. Our framework fills a gap in the project management literature and makes a significant practical contribution: it helps project managers diagnose a project to recognize and reduce the likelihood of unk unks and thus deal more effectively with the otherwise unrecognized risks and opportunities.
The practice of configuring products to individual customer orders has found application in a variety of industry contexts, but little is known about the specific capabilities that firms develop to successfully compete when offering configurable products. Our research begins to fill this gap in the context of industrial equipment manufacturing. Drawing from the ambidexterity literature, we argue that firms have to balance dual goals of reducing variation and promoting variation in their product configuration activities by fostering two distinct firm-level capabilities: product configuration effectiveness (PCE) and product configuration intelligence (PCI). Specifically, we hypothesize that the simultaneous presence of PCE and PCI—that is, product configuration ambidexterity (PCA)—drives superior firm responsiveness and, indirectly firm sales and operating margin. However, we also contend that responsiveness gains through PCA can diminish with product complexity and can increase operating cost. We test these hypotheses by collecting both primary and secondary data from a sample of 108 European industrial equipment manufacturing firms. Results from our analyses indicate that PCA has an indirect effect through responsiveness on sales and operating cost but not on operating margin, with this effect diminishing with product complexity. Taken together, our results suggest that investment in developing PCA may represent a conundrum for industrial equipment manufacturing firms, because it translates into market but not financial advantages, and it is intertwined with product design decisions. We conclude this study with a discussion of the findings for theory and practice.
The literature on Project Management (PM) shows that, in spite of advancement in PM processes, tools and systems, project success has not significantly improved. This problem raises questions about the value and effectiveness of PM and PM systems. This paper reports a research study which tests the relationship between PM performance and project success drawing from empirical data on PM professionals working in UAE project-based organisations.
Multi-dimensional frameworks are validated and used in this study to measure PM performance and project success. A total of 154 completed questionnaires were analysed. Bi-variate correlation and multiple regression tests found a positive influence of PM performance and its contributing variables on project success. Additionally, new variable relationships that have not previously been identified are explored between individual variables of PM performance and project success.
Project management (PM) has progressed through several evolutionary stages and has become established as a well-known management method. Despite its increasingly widespread use in all industry sectors, a central question remains: what demonstrable economic benefit does PM provide? Because past research does not conclusively answer this question, we developed a model to determine the return on investment (ROI) of PM and to unite the costs and benefits of PM. As a case study, the necessary cost and benefit data were obtained from an insurance company over a nine-year period. The relationships between various aspects of costs and benefits were analyzed. The results show clear relationships both between the costs of and investments in PM as well as between the qualitative and quantitative benefits of PM.
Managers struggle to cope with complexity in their product portfolios. However, research into diversification, product platforms, and other issues related to product portfolio complexity has often produced inconsistent guidance. This situation is at least partially attributable to an incomplete definition of portfolio complexity, and to corresponding limitations of theories applied to date. To address these limitations, we define product portfolio complexity as a design state manifested by the multiplicity, diversity, and interrelatedness of products within the portfolio. We conceptually establish the three-dimensional nature of complexity and present a model to provide insights into how each dimension impacts operational performance. As an extension to prior theoretical perspectives, the model explicitly addresses the roles of organizational learning and the character of fixed assets (utilization and flexibility) as mediator and moderator of product portfolio architectural complexity's effects, respectively. We also incorporate the principle of diminishing returns to address potential non-linearities in the proposed relationships. Prior theories and research studies have neglected these issues. We conclude by discussing useful perspectives with which to view the model, and by presenting measures of portfolio complexity and approaches for testing the propositions developed herein.
What Constitutes Success for a Project? Analysis of Variables Associated with Perceived Success and Variables Associated with Perceived Failure General Strategies for Directing Projects Key Factors to Maximize Potential of Perceived Project Success Conclusions
Successful product innovation and the ability of companies to continuously improve their innovation processes are rapidly becoming essential requirements for competitive advantage and long-term growth in both manufacturing and service industries. It is now recognized that companies must develop innovation capabilities across all stages of the product development, manufacture, and distribution cycle. These Continuous Product Innovation (CPI) capabilities are closely associated with a company’s knowledge management systems and processes. Companies must develop mechanisms to continuously improve these capabilities over time.Using results of an international survey on CPI practices, sets of companies are identified by similarities in specific contingencies related to their complexity of product, process, technological, and customer interface. Differences between the learning behaviors found present in the company groups and in the levers used to develop and support these behaviors are identified and discussed. This paper also discusses appropriate mechanisms for firms with similar complexities, and some approaches they can use to improve their organizational learning and product innovation.
Purpose
Most mass customization literature focuses on the move from mass production to mass customization. However, in some literature engineer‐to‐order (ETO) companies are also claiming to have become mass customizers, although it can be questioned if these companies conform to popular definitions of mass customizers. The purpose of this paper is to ask the question: under which conditions is it reasonable to label ETO companies as mass customizers?
Design/methodology/approach
First, definitions of mass customization are examined and related to ETO companies that move towards mass customization. Second, the individual transitions from mass production and ETO to mass customization are analyzed by: relating the transition to classifications from relevant literature; describing the motivations and risks associated with the transition; and defining some of the most important transition characteristics. Finally it is discussed if ETO companies can become mass customizers and under which conditions it would be reasonable to describe them as such.
Findings
The paper argues that from several angles it makes sense to label some ETO companies as mass customizers although the products are not at prices near mass produced ones.
Research limitations/implications
To avoid dilution of the concept of mass customization, while not excluding ETO companies, it is suggested to start out with a broad definition of mass customization under which separate definitions of different kinds of mass customizers are created.
Originality/value
Although much has been written about mass customization, and ETO companies in much literature have been labeled as mass customizers, the essential discussion of under which conditions it is reasonable to label ETO companies as mass customizers has been missing.
Organizations increasingly use projects to achieve business objectives but report that results often fall short of goals. A number of formal standards for managing projects have been developed intending to improve such project outcomes. However, research examining this assumption is scarce and has yielded mixed results. This paper presents the development and use of a set of metrics for assessing the use of project management (PM) practices in an empirical assessment of the relative use of different practices, and the link between the use of those practices and project success. Our analysis shows widely varying usage of different PM practices and differences in use depending on the context of the project. Further, our study indicates that the level of use of PM practices is indeed related to project success. Finally, the results suggest that the PM practices that make a difference may not be the most frequently used.
The globalization of markets, mergers of international companies, and integration of managerial and business processes in global corporations are changing project management fundamentals. A clearly recognizable trend in multinational companies since the mid-1980s has been globalization of R & D and competence portfolios. Applied development is usually conducted in the form of a distributed project organization. A project team is formed across geographical, organizational, and cultural boundaries, engaging in a project with a global focus. Although a multinational project organization has great potential in many dimensions, there is no doubt that the execution of a distributed high technological project is still a great challenge. This article identifies success factors in the management of distributed projects with global goals. The authors have focused on the practical experiences of the execution of complex multinational projects in the area of applied system development for power industry.
Since the early 1970s, production planning systems have evolved from material requirements planning (MRP) through manufacturing resource planning (MRPII) into enterprise resource planning (ERP) with simultaneous development of related control systems such as theory of constraints (epitomised by OPT), just-in-time (JIT), etc. One key area for all manufacturing companies is the planning and control function. There is a wide range of generic proprietary software available that aims to meet a company’s planning and scheduling requirements. The difficulty experienced by many companies is not only in examining available software, but also in understanding the match between business needs and the capabilities of that software. This paper first sets out some common manufacturing classification systems, then attempts to map them against accepted paradigms for production planning and control approaches. Analysis confirms the need for a more rigorous approach to software selection, and the need for a complete understanding of the drivers of the production control process before this can be achieved. The paper goes on to discuss a method for mapping these drivers, with the aim being to create a series of reference models for production planning and scheduling.
Purpose
Traditionally the customer order decoupling point (CODP) has focused mainly on the separation of production performed on speculation from commitment to customer orders. Engineering has, with few exceptions in this context, simply been viewed as occurring before production activities in a sequential manner. As competition increases, customer requirements for short lead‐times in combination with customisations requires further integration of processes involving both engineering and production activities making the traditional view of the CODP insufficient in these cases. The purpose of this paper is thus to provide a more general approach to enterprise integration of cross‐functional processes in order to extend the applicability of the CODP as a logistics oriented concept.
Design/methodology/approach
We use evolutionary approach to define the CODP as a two‐dimensional concept based on the integration of engineering and production.
Findings
The extended CODP captures the complexity in terms of possible configurations, but also provides a framework for the issues that must be handled when positioning the CODP in terms of both engineering and production simultaneously.
Practical implications
The two‐dimensional CODP is an important extension to make the theory better reflect reality and hence increase the scope and acceptance of both the concept CODP per se , and the analysis based on the CODP.
Originality/value
By the introduction of a new two‐dimensional approach, a more comprehensive CODP typology is defined. We also provide a classification of customer order influence based on a combined engineering and production perspective where the efficient CODPs constitute a set providing the highest level of customer value in terms of engineering adaptations.
Presents a new taxonomy for the non make-to-stock sector to enable a like-with-like comparison, arguing that existing taxonomies within the literature are inadequate for strategic research purposes. Presents empirical evidence which has been collected from 22 companies in three European countries – the UK, Denmark and The Netherlands. The data support the structure of the proposed new taxonomy and provide insights into competitive advantage and customisation issues in the non make-to-stock sector. Finally, two new labels for this sector of industry are proposed. “Versatile manufacturing company” is used to describe those manufacturers which are involved in a competitive bidding situation for every order which they receive, customisation by individual order. In contrast, the “Repeat business customiser” may only be in this position for the first of a series of similar orders from a particular customer, customisation by contract.
Companies frequently implement formalization to improve success. Previous research has found supporting evidence for the performance-enhancing effects of formalization in both single project management and project portfolio management. However, there is no research on how formalization at the project level interacts with formalization at the portfolio level, or on how this interaction may impact success. This study investigates the interaction of formalization at both levels and examines the moderating effect of project portfolio complexity on formalization. Using a sample of 134 firms, this study shows that single project management formalization and, likewise, portfolio management formalization are directly connected to portfolio success. Simultaneous formalization at these two levels delivers a complementary effect, resulting in an increase in success that is more than additive. A contingency analysis confirms that the proposed positive effects become more prominent if complexity is high. Complexity measured as project interdependency has a stronger moderating effect than complexity measured as portfolio size.
Organizations investing in project management need to be assured of a concrete return. Without the ability to clearly define its value, project management joins the long line of initiatives (i.e., TQM, information systems, training, human resources) struggling to prove their worth to organizations. However, demonstrating a concrete value in organizations has been illusive and even paradoxical. This paper describes the conceptual model underlying a major international research project designed to yield a broad perspective on the value of project management. This model and research design will be of interest to researchers, project managers, professional organizations, and senior executives.
There is an increasing diversity both of project types and PM approaches, but decision tools and theory connecting the two are limited. To address this shortcoming, this paper reviews literature on alternative PM approaches, in the context of project contingency theory. Firstly, the paper identifies five selection factors seen within this literature: uncertainty, complexity, urgency, team empowerment and criticality. Secondly, the paper adapts project contingency theory to encompass these factors. Thirdly, these factors are used to develop a contingency framework based on project uncertainty and its consequences. Finally, the paper discusses the practical applications of the framework, such as its use for project process selection, tuning of processes, and project risk assessment.
This paper investigates project management methods used during the execution phase of new product development projects. Based on prior field observations, organizational theory and product development literature, we pose hypotheses regarding the effectiveness of the project execution methods of formality, project management autonomy and resource flexibility. A cross-sectional survey sample of 120 completed new product development projects from a variety of assembled products industries is analyzed via hierarchical moderated regression. We find that the project execution methods are positively associated with project execution success. Further, these methods are effective singly and collectively, suggesting that firms can ''balance firmness and flexibility'' in product development via appropriate execution methods. Surprisingly, the effectiveness of these methods is not contingent on the product or process technology novelty inherent in a given development project. The findings suggest that firms should adopt high levels of these approaches, and that a variety of projects can be managed using broadly similar project execution methods. The findings also suggest limitations on the application of organizational information processing theory to the context of product development projects. Directions for additional theory development are outlined. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Manufacturing capability has often been viewed to be a major obstacle in achieving higher levels of customization. Companies follow various strategies ranging from equipment selection to order process management to cope with the challenges of increased customization. We examined how the customization process affects product performance and conformance in the context of a design-to-order (DTO) manufacturer of industrial components. Our competing risk hazard function model incorporates two thresholds, which we define as mismatch and manufacturing thresholds. Product performance was adversely affected when the degree of customization exceeded the mismatch threshold. Likewise, product conformance eroded when the degree of customization exceeded the manufacturing threshold. Relative sizes of the two thresholds have management implications for the subsequent investments to improve customization capabilities. Our research developed a rigorous framework to address two key questions relevant to the implementation of product customization: (1) what degrees of customization to offer, and (2) how to customize the product design process.
This article reports an investigation into project managers' perceptions of managerial complexity. Based on a multistage empirical study, elements of “what makes a project complex to manage” were identified and classified under the dimensions of mission, organization, delivery, stakeholder, or team—the MODeST model. Further, the data showed that these elements had both structural and dynamic qualities and that the elements are interdependent. Project managers are shown to be embedded in this complexity. The practical implications of the research include the ability to describe managerial complexity in a manner consistent with the actuality of the lived project environment. This provides a framework for the description of the level of managerial challenge or difficulty, which will allow the assessment of individual and organizational responses to it in the future. Further, the opportunity exists for active management of complexity.
This article addresses the transfer of new product technologies from outside the firm for integration into a new product system as part of a product development effort. Product technology transfer is a key activity in the complex process of new product development and is the fundamental link in the technology supply chain. Product technology transfer too often is dealt with in an ad‐hoc fashion. Purposeful management of the product technology transfer process leads to more effective transfers in terms of timeliness, cost, functional performance, and competence building. Better management of product technology transfer gives firms access to a greater variety of new technology options, improves a firm's ability to offer significantly differentiated products, deepens the firm's competitive competencies, and positively influences sustained product development success. The central objective of this article is to gain insight into product technology transfer so that companies can manage this process more successfully and so that researchers can investigate this critical activity further.
This article describes the technology supply chain as a unique form of a supply chain that poses a set of managerial challenges and requirements distinguishing it from the more traditional component supply chain. Because a single product technology transfer project is the fundamental piece in the technology supply chain, understanding this piece well is key to leveraging the extended technology supply chain and to improving overall product development performance. This article integrates literatures on new product development, supply chain management, and technology management and builds on organizational theory to present a conceptual model of determinants of product technology transfer success. The core proposition is that product technology transfer effectiveness is greatest when companies carefully match (or “fit”) the type of technology to be transferred (the “technology uncertainty”) with the type of relationship between the technology supplier and recipient (the “interorganizational interaction”).
A quite detailed framework characterizing technology uncertainty along the dimensions of technology novelty, complexity, and tacitness is presented to help in assessing the challenges associated with transferring a particular product technology. This article also considers detailed elements characterizing the interorganizational interactions between the technology source and recipient firms. This helps firms consider the appropriate means to facilitate the interfirm process of technology transfer. Overall, this article provides practical insight into characterizing technologies and into improving the product technology transfer process. This article also provides a strong theoretical foundation to aid future research on product technology transfer in the technology supply chain.