Influence of Portfolio Management in Decision-Making

Purpose: Today’s manufacturing facilities are challenged by highly customized products and just in time manufacturing and delivery of these products. In this study, a batch scheduling problem has been addressed to enable on-time completion of customer orders in a lean manufacturing environment. The problem is optimizing the partitioning of product components into batches and scheduling of the resulting batches where each customer order is received as a set of products made of various components. Design/methodology/approach: Three different mathematical models for minimization of total earliness and tardiness of customer orders are developed to provide on-time completion of customer orders and also, to avoid excess final product inventory. The first model is a non-linear integer programming model whereas the second is a linearized version of the first. Finally, to solve larger sized instances of the problem, an alternative linear integer model is presented. Findings: Computational study using a suit set of test instances showed that the alternative linear integer model is able to solve all test instances in varying sizes within quite shorter computer times compared to the other two models. It has also been showed that the alternative model is able to solve moderate sized real-world problems. Originality/value: The problem under study differentiates from existing batch scheduling problems in the literature owing to the inclusion of new circumstances that are present in real-world applications. Those are: customer orders consisting of multi-products made of multi-parts, processing of all parts of the same product from different orders in the same batch, and delivering the orders only when all related products are completed. This research also contributes to the literature of batch scheduling problem by presenting new optimization models.Peer Reviewe

Project management : perspective of small and medium-sized construction firms in Ghana

Abstract: Literature on construction industry has revealed the extent of importance and the need of good project management practice at a site. Efficient compliance of this project management practice by a firm within the construction sector has yielded results such as minimization of waste which turns to maximize returns of the client, ensured fruitful communication among the project teams to avoid rework and accident amongst others. The research explores how project management is practiced within small and medium-sized firms. The paper mainly focused on the execution phase of project management process; thus the construction stage. Further, the study adopted the use of the literature in project management practice primarily. The results showed that the small and medium-sized firms are mostly owned by solely one person who controls and have adapted self-style project management techniques. This nonstandardized project management practice among small and medium firms affect progress and contributes wastage. Statutory provision for small and medium-sized construction firms must be instituted to make the SMEs project management compliant to enhance project succes

Programy w kontekście wdrażania zmian i realizacji strategii

his article is aimed at the review of the latest literature on project programme management in the context of implementation of corporate strategies. The discussion deals with the characteristic features and programme typology, programme life cycle in the context of corporate strategy implementation and the role of programmes in the organisation change implementation. Programme management is presented as an organisational instrument supporting stages in an organisation change management.Celem niniejszego artykułu jest podsumowanie przeglądu najnowszej literatury w zakresie zarządzania programami projektów w kontekście realizacji strategii przedsiębiorstwa. Omówione zostaną kolejno: cechy charakterystyczne i typologie programów, cykl życia programu w kontekście wdrażania strategii przedsiębiorstwa, rola programów we wdrażaniu zmian organizacyjnych. Zarządzanie programem zostanie przedstawione jako instrument organizacyjny wspierający kroki w zarządzaniu zmianą w organizacji

Zarządzanie portfelem projektów w kontekście teorii zarządzania strategicznego

The article discusses the problems of portfolio management in the context of changes in the contemporary organisation environment. It emphasizes the role of project portfolio management in the implementation of corporate strategy and describes major goals, areas and conditions of effective implementation of the principles of organisation portfolio management. The conclusions drawn from the literature review indicate that strategic management and project management developed historically as independent areas and there are few studies integrating both perspectives. However, at present it is important to build the organisational skill to discover new potentials and to make use of the existing possibilities of the organisation. Projects help in finding new potentials. Therefore, project management is especially important to build a competitive advantage and renew strategy. The portfolio management requires a special attention as it constitutes an element combining strategy and projects. The article works out a synthesis of portfolio management significance in the context of diverse strategic theories of management.W artykule omówiono obszary problemowe zarządzania portfelem w kontekście zmian we współczesnym środowisku organizacyjnym. Podkreślono rolę zarządzania portfelem projektów w realizacji strategii firmy oraz omówiono główne cele, obszary i warunki efektywnego wdrażania zasad zarządzania portfelem w organizacji. Wnioski z przeglądu literatury wskazują, że zarządzanie strategiczne i zarządzanie projektami historycznie rozwijały się jako odrębne dziedziny i że niewiele jest badań integrujących obie perspektywy. Jednak obecnie ważne jest, aby budować zdolność organizacji do odkrywania nowych potencjałów i wykorzystywania istniejących możliwości organizacji. Projekty pomagają w odkrywaniu nowych potencjałów. Dlatego zarządzanie projektami jest szczególnie ważne dla budowania przewagi konkurencyjnej i odnawiania strategii. Obszar zarządzania portfelem zasługuje na szczególną uwagę, ponieważ stanowi element organizacji łączący strategię i projekty. W artykule opracowana została synteza znaczenia zarządzania portfelem w kontekście różnych teorii zarządzania strategicznego

Status and Barriers Impeding Utilization of Project Management Tools: Epidemic for Tripartite Construction Parties in Malaysia

Project management tools have been widely used in construction project life cycles to monitor progress, evaluate payments/claims, and manage construction works worldwide. Despite their capability in helping project managers to achieve specific objectives within time, budget, and standards, not every construction organization in Malaysia would fully utilize these tools due to several challenges. As numerous studies substantiate the importance and of project management tools, lackluster adoption rates have led to productivity problems, project delays, and maturity problems at both project and enterprise levels in the construction industry. This study investigates the level of implementation and addresses the significant barriers that impede the utilization of project management tools. A survey was administered to well-known construction companies in Malaysia. This study revealed that the implementation level was discouragingly low, and the top 5 barriers were: (1) financial considerations, (2) restrictions on human capital, (3) high annual turnover, (4) lack of technology awareness, and (5) organizational culture. These findings suggest that the Malaysian construction industry should: overhaul financial and human resource limitations, increase assistance for users, and boost the partial implementation of basic techniques of project management to the maximum extent possible. The practitioners can understand the dynamics and causes of predicaments to the full implementation of project management tools in their respective companies. As for academicians, these findings help theoretical development and literature arguments on our current construction industry as a whole and optimistically help finds ways to make the Malaysian construction industry more efficient.   Keywords: barriers, project management tools, Malaysian construction industr

Project portfolio risk categorisation – factor analysis results

The subject of this article is project portfolio risk categorisation. Research conducted indicated categories containing the most probable and significant risks. The research described in this paper was carried out in two stages. In the first stage, the relevant literature was reviewed and the Delphi method was used to identify 36 risks specific to a project portfolio. In the second stage, the respondents (project portfolio managers) assessed the probability of each risk occurring and the impact of that risk on the objectives of the project portfolio. The empirical data obtained in this way made it possible to conduct an exploratory factor analysis and to identify the risk categories of the project portfolio. The presented results may also contribute to a broader discussion concerning the validity of identifying project portfolio risks and how to categorise them. The results may be useful for further discussion on the empirical confirmation of three categories of portfolio risks proposed by the Project Management Institute

Project portfolio risk categorisation – factor analysis results

The subject of this article is project portfolio risk categorisation. Research conducted indicated categories containing the most probable and significant risks. The research described in this paper was carried out in two stages. In the first stage, the relevant literature was reviewed and the Delphi method was used to identify 36 risks specific to a project portfolio. In the second stage, the respondents (project portfolio managers) assessed the probability of each risk occurring and the impact of that risk on the objectives of the project portfolio. The empirical data obtained in this way made it possible to conduct an exploratory factor analysis and to identify the risk categories of the project portfolio. The presented results may also contribute to a broader discussion concerning the validity of identifying project portfolio risks and how to categorise them. The results may be useful for further discussion on the empirical confirmation of three categories of portfolio risks proposed by the Project Management Institute

Improving and embedding project management practice: generic or context dependent?

Taking into account the contingency theory, this paper explores the extent to which key project management improvement initiatives and key embedding factors, identified in a previously developed conceptual framework, are dependent on organizational context, namely sector of activity, organization size, geographic area and project types. Therefore, aiming to guide professionals on making use of such framework in their organizations. Statistically significant contextual correlations were looked for in a worldwide sample of 793 questionnaire responses from project management professionals, using Principal Component Analysis, ANOVA test and post-hoc Tukey test. Context related differences found were limited, suggesting that the framework for improving and embedding project management practice is substantially generic. Therefore, the paper shows the explanatory power of the framework, which can be used by any organization independent of its sector of activity, dimension, geographic area and project types, however indicating the existence of slight differences. For example, Information Technology companies might give more relevance to initiatives such as corporate standardization and tailoring of project management processes tools and techniques than Engineering and Construction companies

Influence of portfolio management in decision-making

This research aims to demonstrate how portfolio management influences the decision-making process in the projects of a financial organization. And to achieve this goal was used the single case study method. In order to reach this goal, the study began by means of bibliometric research on the subject of portfolio management and subsequent bibliographic research on the theme, decision making. Next, the relationships between portfolio management and decision making were studied. The results of the data collected confirmed the relationship between "the use of the project identification process in portfolio management to influence decision making" in order to add value to the business. It is also possible to demonstrate moderately that "the use of criteria for project selection influences the consequences of decision making", helping in the strategic management of the organization. One of the academic contributions was to note a migration of the portfolio management process, such as a tool that only controls the projects that will compose the portfolio of an organization, for a process that aims at a direct alignment with the strategic management of the organization. Regarding the practical implications, it was verified the importance of portfolio analysis for decision making, to the detriment of the evaluation of only one project. Taking into account the profitability and the return on investment of the projects, as the most important aspects for a decision making