How do project managers acquire and exchange knowledge? An action research study of project managers in Australia

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building.This research study is based on a concern in the project management community, and Australian industry in general, about intergenerational loss of project management knowledge because of a talent exodus, resulting in a loss of capability within organisations. The results of an investigation conducted to understand how knowledge is acquired and exchanged in the delivery of projects in Australia by project managers are presented in this thesis. Two primary research questions were formed for this investigation: 1. How do project managers acquire project management knowledge?; and 2. How do project managers exchange project management knowledge? A secondary research question was developed to identify the knowledge sources which project managers use to acquire and exchange project management knowledge. The research also aims to demonstrate how a project manager’s personal behaviour, and the environment, influence how they acquire and exchange knowledge. An approach was required to separate what transpired during the acquisition and exchange of knowledge from the act of managing projects. The experiential approach is also used to examine the rhetoric of project managers, compared to observing actual behaviour. In the context of being situated in the workplace, conducting the investigation using an interpretivist research paradigm allowed themes to emerge and contribute to theory. A review of contemporary project management literature and practice resulted in a research framework based on a review of project management training, education and competency, and the areas underpinning knowledge acquisition and exchange. To structure this approach, four clusters were constructed to allow for interpretation covering knowledge acquisition; knowledge exchange; knowledge environment; and knowledge drivers. As the research evolved, emerging information and related topics to address the research questions, could be accommodated within these clusters. To accommodate the research paradigm an action research methodology was selected for the study, which involved iterative cycles of interaction and reflection to examine the project manager’s situation. Within these cycles, changes were made in order to evaluate how project managers could exchange knowledge more effectively. Several spin-off cycles were also employed to generate timely input from an external reference group to augment the rigour of the investigation. To identify research participant led, themes a systematic process was designed to collect, transcribe, and analyse the data, while recording the researcher’s reflections for interpretation. The themes relating to how project managers acquire and exchange knowledge were compared to the literature to identify divergence or convergence, and compare theories of social exchange, action, and reasoned action. The evidence from the research indicates experienced project managers in Australia acquire knowledge primarily from workplace experiences and interaction with, and guidance from, work colleagues. Further, project managers in the study were observed using formal ways to exchange knowledge and did so in an impersonal manner. However, in the exchange of knowledge, inconsistencies existed between project managers’ observed behaviour, opinions of their work colleagues, and the project managers’ view of themselves, indicating different perspectives of practice. Findings from the research contribute to social, action, and reasoned action theory relating to project management, with opportunities to apply the action research methodology to project management research, and to embed knowledge acquisition and exchange in project management policy. The research advances the practice of project management by establishing how knowledge is exchanged at project manager level

PKM: A pendulum for consultative-relational selling

Marketing and knowledge management convergence is a key trend of 21st century competitive business environment, in which, key account managers play an important strategic organisational role due to their blended expertise: technical (organisational and personal knowledge) and relational (trust and ethical behaviour). Although it remains a mystery how their personal knowledge is a key assumption for achieving long term results with customers, namely in consultative-relational selling. This manuscript aims to explore the importance of personal knowledge management in consultative-relational selling (pendulum), and to promote a plausible justification the authors will shed some light over Aureliano Pinheiro MPhil research project (consultative-relational selling influence over customer loyalty in Portuguese luxury hotels and resorts). Thus, the paper recognizes seven sections: research project (aims and objectives, as well as, framing the discussion); case study (an overview, role of theory and role of researcher); customer loyalty (concept and the bond to selling); consultative sale (concept, technical issues and relational issues); relational selling (concept, trust and ethical behaviour); personal knowledge management; pendulum; a metaphorical discussion (the pendulum metaphor and empirical evidences)

Training needs in construction project management in Portugal

Training in construction project management is an important issue in European construction industry nowadays. The need for training on this area has been felt by all project participants holding various academic backgrounds, yet working for a common goal, that is, project efficiency. Several countries in Europe, with special relevance to the UK, have greatly expanded training in this topic through academic courses, professional continuous development and experience improvement of practioners. Other countries have not yet achieved this stage but the need to prepare professionals to work in the open European market is impelling efforts for convergence in this matter. Lack of knowledge on this topic has been highlighted by several researchers in the literature. The Portuguese experience is scarce but a recent research project conducted by the authors reveals the main problematic factors for project success, namely, delays, cost overruns, lack of safety and insufficient quality. This calls for specific training on related management areas. This paper reports a survey on professional training needs in Portugal in the scope of an international project on management of infrastructure projects. The survey was carried by a questionnaire delivered to the construction stakeholders of participating countries. The Portuguese results show that the areas selected by the organizations inquired reflect the desire of the industry on more knowledge to overcome the issues approached by the mentioned project.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Reasons for the lack of accomplishment of schedule, costs and safety objectives in construction

Früherkennung wissenschaftlicher Konvergenz im Hochschulmanagement

It is crucial for universities to recognize early signals of scientific convergence. Scientific convergence describes a dynamic pattern where the distance between different fields of knowledge shrinks over time. This knowledge space is beneficial to radical innovations and new promising research topics. Research in converging areas of knowledge can therefore allow universities to establish a leading position in the science community. The Q-AKTIV project develops a new approach on the basis of machine learning to identify scientific convergence at an early stage. In this work, we briefly present this approach and the first results of empirical validation. We discuss the benefits of an instrument building on our approach for the strategic management of universities and other research institutes

Project management competence in the development of economy and civil and defence sectors

The composition of the project management paper is based on several key issues. The emphasis is placed on the features that provide a general level of knowledge of project management competences in formulating the strategy of project objectives, the knowledge of corporate tools in assessing effective investment, the creation of an optimal capital structure of the project, as well as in creating the project benefits in the social environment, military organization systems, community, group etc. Effective project management is a source of positive social impact, with the potential to assist in lifting people out of poverty and efficient functioning of the system as a whole. It is often a powerful way to achieve innovation of products and services, business models and management of processes and various types of military operations. Therefore, it is important to mobilize the investment assets of businesses and knowledge through more efficient cooperation with organizations and institutions within the economy, society and the military. The process of Serbia’s convergence towards “common European homeland” is an imperative and therefore education and competencies should have an important place in the promotion of the specific field of project manager competencies as well as command structures at various levels

The Convergence of Hierarchical Management and Project Management and How it Impacts Organizational Outcomes

In many organizations two managerial disciplines who are co-leading a common organizational initiative: hierarchical management and project management. This thesis studied the impacts of dual management of a single initiative. It was found that this convergence of management disciplines is happening while there is dramatic growth of project management as a profession and in an environment where hierarchical management is being constantly restructured. Many organizational ecosystem variables, including globalization and technological advances, further exacerbate the already challenging collaboration required to co-lead a single organizational initiative. There is large body of existing tools and knowledge to facilitate successful outcomes for organizational initiatives. However, the language used by the survey respondents and interviewees in this research depicted more personal experiences with the challenges rather than the synergies of leading projects. This led to asking the question: “What is missing?” The finding of this thesis is that what is needed is to focus on the “in-between.” The “in-between” is in the midst of the constancy of purpose and practice and the innovation and flexibility needed to drive sustainable change. The ensuing synergies and tensions coming from the “in-between”, if leveraged effectively were found to create energy and the momentum to help drive organizational initiatives. It is the conclusion of this research that what is required to successfully co-lead organizational initiatives is Mindful Leadership of the “In-between.

The role of boundary objects in the co-evolution of design and use: the KMP project experimentation

Nowadays, it is widely recognized that an ICT tool cannot be built without knowing who will use it and what they will do with. In this perspective, Human-Computer Interaction community (Carroll, 1990; Jarke, Tung Bui and Carroll, 1998; Young and Barnard, 1987; Young and al., 1989) developed a scenario-based approach contrasting with the traditional information system design. The scenario describes an existing or envisioned system from the perspective of one or more users and includes a narration of their goals, plans and reactions (Rosson and Carroll, 2002). As a result, design is founded on the use of scenarios as a central representation for the analysis and design of use. The scenario-based design appears to be a first step in the integration of users in the design of ICT tool. However, we would like to underline in this paper a more active role of users in the design process. According to Orlikowski (2000) while a technology can be seen to have been constructed with particular materials and inscribed with developers' assumptions and knowledge about the world at a point in time, it is only when this technology is used in recurrent social practices that it can be said to structure user's action. The use of technology in recurrent social practices must be considered because how technological properties will for the moment be used or appropriate is not inherent or predetermined. Finally, this approach leads us to dissociate the designers' world from the users' world. In this perspective, the design project is the result of the co-evolution and the convergence of both worlds: on the one hand, the world of design and a first integration of users by scenarios; on the other hand, the world of users where innovation is the art of interesting an increasing number of allies who will make the world of design stronger and stronger. The objective of this paper is to understand the mechanisms of interaction between the world of design and that of users i.e. between loops of co-design and loops of uses. Indeed, according to Akrich, Callon and Latour (1988) we adopt a whirlwind model of innovation. In this perspective, “innovation continuously transforms itself according to the trials to which it is submitted i.e. of the “interessements” tried out » (Akrich and al., 2002: 7). We will demonstrate that the key success of an innovation depends on the co-evolution and convergence of design and use around boundary objects developed during this process (see Figure 1). More specifically, we will show the role of boundary objects on the integration and on the involvement of users in the design process. In order to do so, we carried out an empirical research – the Knowledge Management Platform project - located in the scientific park of Sophia Antipolis (Alpes-Maritimes, France), focusing on the Telecom Valley® (TV) association which gathers the main actors of the Sophia Antipolis Telecom cluster. Indeed, the KMP project aims to build a semantic web service of competencies in order to enhance exchange and combination dynamics of knowledge within the Telecom cluster thanks to an interactive mapping of competencies. This paper will comprise three parts: Based on the researches of Akrich, Callon and Latour (1988), Hatchuel and Mollet (1986), Orlikowski (2000), Romme and Endenburg (2006) we will identify and analyse in a first part the process of design. The combination of these approaches leads us to distinguish the design' world from the users' world. In this perspective, the success of an innovation may be explained by the co-evolution and the convergence of these two worlds. In this process, we suggest that boundary objects play a key role in the convergence of these two worlds. We will present in a second part the empirical study of the KMP project within the TV network. The KMP project involved researchers from socio-economic sciences (GREDEG Laboratory, UNSA-CNRS, Rodige and Latapses teams), cognitive sciences and artificial intelligence (INRIA, Acacia team), telecommunications (GET) and users (TV) for a total force of 187 men per month for a two-year period (2003-2005). At this present time this project is being set up in a pre-industrialization phase, supported by TV and the PACA region. Here, we will analyse the specific process of design experimented by KMP. Finally, the third part discusses the role of boundary objects in the KMP experimentation. In this part, we will show the evolution of boundary objects during the loops of design. More specifically, the focus will be on the emergence of compromises between designers and users, their materialisation in boundary objects and finally their evolution during the design' process.boundary objects, IS development, actor network theory

Open Innovation, ambiguity and technological convergence

Objectives. Current paper aims to provide a fresh conceptual framework on the relationship among open innovation, decision ambiguity, and technological convergence. We argue that there is a curvilinear relationship between open innovation and both technological convergence and ambiguity. Contained level of convergence and ambiguity foster open innovation, whilst an excess of them is an impediment to collaboration. Technological convergence further acts as a moderator for ambiguity, in light of the benefits of isomorphism. Methodology. We propose a conceptual framework for open innovation decisions after accurately reviewing the main literature antecedents. Findings. We suggest an inverse u-shaped relationship between open innovation and either ambiguity or technological convergence. Research limits. In future, the theoretical framework proposed by thus study has to be tested with robust and proper statistical techniques on large scale samples. Practical implications. The model offers a heuristic for open innovation decisions under ambiguity. Originality of the study. To the best of our knowledge, the relationship linking open innovation, technological convergence and ambiguity emerges as a literature gap. This study tackles this issue, proposing an interpretation for the analysis of alliances decision in innovation

The 2007-13 operational programmes: a preliminary assessment: Spring – Autumn 2005

A preliminary assessment of the 2007-13 operational programmes on EU cohesion policy