Criteria of Successful IT Projects from Management's Perspective

The aim of this paper is to compile a model of IT project success from management's perspective. Therefore, a qualitative research approach is proposed by interviewing IT managers on how their companies evaluate the success of IT projects. The evaluation of the survey provides fourteen success criteria and four success dimensions. This paper also thoroughly analyzes which of these criteria the management considers especially important and which ones are being missed in daily practice. Additionally, it attempts to identify the relevance of the discovered criteria and dimensions with regard to the determination of IT project success. It becomes evident here that the old-fashioned Iron Triangle still plays a leading role, but some long-term strategical criteria, such as value of the project, customer perspective or impact on the organization, have meanwhile caught up or pulled even

A human factors methodology for real-time support applications

A general approach to the human factors (HF) analysis of new or existing projects at NASA/Goddard is delineated. Because the methodology evolved from HF evaluations of the Mission Planning Terminal (MPT) and the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite Mission Operations Room (ERBS MOR), it is directed specifically to the HF analysis of real-time support applications. Major topics included for discussion are the process of establishing a working relationship between the Human Factors Group (HFG) and the project, orientation of HF analysts to the project, human factors analysis and review, and coordination with major cycles of system development. Sub-topics include specific areas for analysis and appropriate HF tools. Management support functions are outlined. References provide a guide to sources of further information

Organizational and Innovative Flexibility Mechanisms and their Impact upon Organizational Effectiveness

This paper presents a lexical definition of firms' flexibility and its operationalization as used in the DISKO survey of 1900 Danish private firms. This operationalization is highlighted by data from a highly flexible firm which was visited in 1997 as part of a follow-up upon the questionnaire survey of which the firm in question was a part. The aim is to understand the flexible traits and their meaning for effectiveness. The analysis shows how the interviewees’statements give an understanding of the firm’s flexibility and its effectiveness and how their explanations draw upon elements from the operationalization as well as elements not included in the operationalization but can be seen as part of the lexical definition. The results point to the importance for effectiveness of the firm's culture based upon openness, cooperation and service mindednes in combination with a group structure which means extended cross functional information processes. These processes are supported by information and communication technology founded on a common understanding among the users building upon learning activities. From these connections stem extended relationships with customers and a rich web of processes conducive for new ideas on products and services. Details of these relationships are presented. From this analysis is also drawn a few conclusions regarding the problem of operationalization of flexibility. Results from the questionnaire survey are given as background information and include the distribution of the 1900 firms as measured by a flexibility index and divided according to a typology of static, flexible, innovative and dynamic firms.Flexibility, innovation, effectiveness

The acquisition and dissemination of ideas: managing the innovative initiative

This study explores the innovation management of acquisition and dissemination, technological and radical, of product ideas. The nature and value of community learning are explored through four functional communities' interpretation and sense-making of their own, and other communities', practices associated with innovation management. An earlier research study, literature and an initial set of focus group findings, were used to identify four key themes: sub-cultural values, innovation goals, organizational enablers and barriers, and community learning outcomes; linked to functional communities' engagement with an informal innovation community. A combination of frameworks, i. e. `communities of practice' (CoP), organisational and cultural, are reviewed, and an initial community learning process model constructed which is subsequently used to explore the four themes. Central to this study is the interpretative ethnographic approach and the adoption of a single case participatory action research methodology, which is underpinned by the practice of grounded theory. The critical roles of the researcher and co-researchers are discussed, highlighting the importance of multiple methods of observing and collecting data: focus groups, interviews, observation, action workshops, collection of hall-talk, and documentation such as e-mails, memos, project notes and strategy documents. The functional communities' value orientations are important to understanding their perceived and expected roles within innovation communities. Changes in the nature of the communities' interpretation of customer value are discussed together with an apparent increased role ambiguity. Communities' outcome criteria associated with the innovation community are explored with a specific focus on performance, attitudinal and behavioural outcomes. The findings attest to a strong link between the expected outcome measures and communities' mutual expectations of other innovation community members. Community environment and its impact on CoP are explored through the practices of collaboration, conflict and innovative leadership. The initial findings suggest that the `state of trust' between communities is directly related to the leadership style and the collaboration between members. The principal contribution of this study was to the development of a community learning process model, which mapped their identities, practices and meanings associated with the innovative initiative and the interrelationship between sense-making and practices. The communities' `legitimacy of contribution' in the case of the initiative was determined by their perspective of customer value orientation and the sense-making of their own, and others', practices. These practices, the research suggests, were influenced by their symbolic interpretation of the shared innovation goals of the innovation community. This research attests that perceived value orientation is directly linked to communities' practices, and the prospective sensemaking of the relationship between practices and outcomes. Hence, desired value orientation is indirectly related to role ambiguity and functional community engagement with innovation communities. Future research needs to differentiate between desired and perceived value orientation and actions

Identifying Success Factors in Construction Projects: A Case Study

© 2015 by the Project Management Institute. Published online in Wiley Online Library. Defining "project success" has been of interest for many years, and recent developments combine multiple measurable and psychosocial factors that add to this definition. There has also been research into success factors, but little research into the causal chains through which success emerges. Following the multi-dimensionality of "success," this article shows how success factors combine in complex interactions; it describes factors contributing to project performance by a company working on two major construction programs and shows how to map and analyze paths from root causes to success criteria. The study also identifies some specific factors - some generic, some context-dependent - none of these is uncommon but here they come together synergistically

Scientists, engineers and managers - Partners in space

Management practices in aerospace industr

Levels of leadership development and top management\u27s effectiveness: Is there a clear-cut relationship?

This paper is focused on the influence of leadership development on top management\u27s effectiveness, both from theoretical and empirical aspect. The creation of an original theoretical model of leadership development process and top management\u27s effectiveness has the purpose of determining impact, direction and intensity of the relationship between leadership development and top management\u27s effectiveness and offers a new methodological approach to leadership classification using the criteria of developed/undeveloped leadership process and measurement of top management\u27s effectiveness based on contemporary conditions. A new composite variable for measuring leadership development was created and the research implied it strongly correlates with the indicators of top management\u27s effectiveness, both in internal and external perspectives. Empirical verification of the model was conducted on the sample of 106 companies and this deepened the insight into the modern leadership paradigm, its development and affirmation in the area of management effectiveness and it confirmed the research hypotheses. The nature of relationship between management effectiveness and the main dimensions of leadership process – setting direction (by creating vision, explaining the whole and setting the strategy), including people (by communicating vision, building teams and seeking commitment) and motivating (inspiring, empowering and meeting the needs of subordinates) – was determined and it was proved that leadership development has a positive effect on the effectiveness of top management

Integrating automated support for a software management cycle into the TAME system

Software managers are interested in the quantitative management of software quality, cost and progress. An integrated software management methodology, which can be applied throughout the software life cycle for any number purposes, is required. The TAME (Tailoring A Measurement Environment) methodology is based on the improvement paradigm and the goal/question/metric (GQM) paradigm. This methodology helps generate a software engineering process and measurement environment based on the project characteristics. The SQMAR (software quality measurement and assurance technology) is a software quality metric system and methodology applied to the development processes. It is based on the feed forward control principle. Quality target setting is carried out before the plan-do-check-action activities are performed. These methodologies are integrated to realize goal oriented measurement, process control and visual management. A metric setting procedure based on the GQM paradigm, a management system called the software management cycle (SMC), and its application to a case study based on NASA/SEL data are discussed. The expected effects of SMC are quality improvement, managerial cost reduction, accumulation and reuse of experience, and a highly visual management reporting system

Prioritization and integration of lean initiatives with theory of constraints

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-45).The principles of lean manufacturing have taken hold in a number of manufacturing firms as a means of achieving operational excellence through continuous improvement. Womack and Jones have suggested a generalized process for lean transformation in their 1996 book, Lean Thinking. A key element of this process is the creation of value stream maps for each product line. Value stream maps are the basis for planning and tracking a firm's lean transformation. Rother and Shook go further in their 1998 work Learning to See as they describe how these maps are created and then integrated into both the transformation process and the regular business planning cycle. The authors note that difficult questions remain, including: "In what order should we implement?" and "Where do we start?" Advice offered by Rother and Shook is helpful but insufficient given the complexity of many business environments and the scarcity of resources in competitive industries. This thesis builds upon Rother and Shook's work in proposing a framework for prioritizing lean initiatives. Specifically, Theory of Constraints (TOC) tools are employed as a basis for selecting programs and projects that provide the greatest system-wide productivity improvement for the least cost. In this manner, application of the proposed prioritization framework results in a more effective and efficient lean transformation. Research at the Eastman Kodak Company illustrates how this framework can be applied in a paper finishing production facility. Results highlight the system constraint in the paper slitting operation and the high leverage of machine changeover time in productivity improvement. We conclude that the Theory of Constraints can provide an effective focusing tool for the lean enterprise.by Kevin D. Schwain.S.M.M.B.A

Talking the Talk, or Walking the Walk? Outcome-Based Regulation of Transnational Investment

Today, individual U.S. retail investors have virtually limitless opportunities to invest their money, with a notable exception: they cannot directly invest in securities of foreign issuers and still be protected under U.S. law. This missing opportunity deprives U.S. investors of the ability to fully diversify their investments and also imposes undue costs and risks upon investors seeking to invest directly overseas. This Article shows that a Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) policy of mutual recognition of foreign regulatory regimes that achieve investor protection outcomes comparable to those of the SEC would solve this problem. A foreign issuer or other entity seeking to access U.S. capital markets should be permitted to substitute compliance with its home country\u27s investor protection regulations for compliance with U.S. regulation, as long as it agreed to submit to SEC antifraud jurisdiction in its dealings with U.S. investors. The foreign entity would thereby not have to comply with federal securities law to have access to individual U.S. investors, as is currently the case. Similarly, U.S. entities should be permitted to enter foreign markets without subjecting themselves to a second layer of regulation on top of what the SEC already requires. Under an outcome-based approach to transnational investment, U.S. companies could then opt for foreign regulation and sell securities to U.S. investors as foreign-regulated issuers, as could foreign entities with respect to their home regulator. Allowing firms to choose a regulator from the set of nations with comparable investor protections would intensify the regulatory competition already taking place around the globe, and help to ensure that such competition serves the interests of investors